THE HERO BOY; 

OR, 

THE LIFE AND DEEDS 

OF 

LTEUT.-GEN. GR AIN'T: 



BY 

EEV. P. C. HEADLET, 

' t 

AUTHOR OF il NAPOLEON," "JOSEPHINE," " "WOMEN OF THE BIBLE," ETC- 



NEW YORK : 

WILLIAM H. APPLETOST, 92 GRAND STREET. 
1864. 




Entekbb, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S64. by 
W. H. APPLETON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District, Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of Xevr York. 



JO HN F. TROW, 
Printer, Stereotyper, and Electrotypes, 
50 Greene Street, New York. 



TO 

JESSE R. GRANT, 

THE FATHER OF THE BOY ; 
WHOSE EARLY HISTORY, LIKE THAT OF HIS 
ILLUSTRIOUS SON, 
AND WHOSE SERENE OLD AGE, 
BRIGHT WITH THE LIGHT OF CHRISTIAN HOPE, 
PRESENTS A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE 
OF SUCCESS IN LIFE, 

ffi^b ftnhxmt 

IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED 
BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Bieth Place of General Grant, Frontispiece, 

Portraits of Heroes, , . . Before Title, 

Ulysses at Work, . , Page 8 

Fort Henry, . " 80 

Fort Donelson, " 82 

West Point in 1840, ........ "145 

YlCKSBURG, " 208 

"Washington to Richmond, . "299 

Onward to Richmond, u 308 



PREFACE. 



The author of this volume acceded the more readily 
to the desire of others, in preparing it, because it was 
for loys. To interest and instruct them, who are to bear 
the burdens of the church and state in the peaceful future 
which must ere long succeed the stormy period, has been 
the inspiring hope. The materials were from immedi- 
ate friends of the subject of biography, or other reli- 
able sources, so far as the years previous to the Great 
Eebellion are concerned. The incidents of his early life 
are, for the most part, from data furnished by General 
Grant's father. He stated that the published stories of 
purchasing a horse of Farmer Ealston, and the quarrel 
with his Canada cousin — also letters purporting to be his 
early correspondence — are fictions entirely ; they are there- 
fore omitted. He made the pencil sketch from which the 
view of Point Pleasant, and the humble home of General 
Grant's infancy, were engraved. Larke's compilation, and 
Carleton's "Days and Nights on the Battle Field," have 
been valuable books of reference. 



iv 



PEEFACE. 



The deeds of the Lieutenant- General since the conflict 
opened, are spread abroad in official and unofficial records, 
so that no serious error is possible, unless by singular over- 
sight, or misprint of the pages. It is believed to be a 
correct outline of a hero's life. 

And, to give a more distinct impression of the war 
field over which General Grant moved, outline maps are 
added. A glossary of military terms is also given. The 
pages were not written to glorify a military chieftain, and 
add to the ephemeral productions of the day, but to present 
to our youth a record reliable as the sources of informa- 
tion could make it, of an unostentatious, earnest, brave, 
and successful man. It is offered to the homes of the 
people with the prayer that the memorial of a distin- 
guished general who sprang from a humble dwelling in 
the wilderness of the West, may aid in moulding charac- 
ter for the country's need, and for the " Better Land." 



NOTE. 

This volume is the first of a series for boys, entitled " The 
Young American's Library of Modern Heroes." The biography 
of the brilliant astronomer, patriot, and commander, General 0. M. 
Mitchel, is in press; to be followed by "The Life of Captain John 
Ericsson ; or, The Miner Boy and his Monitor " — a biography of rare 
interest, from authentic sources. Other volumes rvi.ll be added to 
the series. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAQK 

The Grant Family— The Orphan Boy— Home and Birth of Ulysses- 
How he got his Name — His School Days— Don't know what Can't 
means, 1 

CHAPTER n. 

The "Log Hauling "—The Young Patriot wants an Education — His 
Opportunities — How he hecomes Cadet — West Point Military 
Academy— Where and "What is it? — Young Grant as Cadet— His 
Classmates— He Graduates— Never quarrels, 8 

CHAPTER III. 

The Young Lieutenant— He joins his Regiment — Goes to Louisiana- 
Is in the Mexican War— The First Battle— The Long March— Vera - 
Cruz— Returns to the States— Is Married— Ordered to Oregon— Re- 
signs, . 17 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Captain turns Farmer— He is not Afraid of Work— In the Leather 
Trade— The Call to Arms again— Captain offers his Service— His 
First Post of Duty— Is appointed Colonel, 27 



vi 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER Y. 

Three Months Men — Colonel Grant joins his Regiment— In Camp — Off 
for the Field of Action — A Rapid March— Promotion— Grant loses 
no Time— He is Commissioned Brigadier-General — A Good Story — 
Headquarters at Cairo — A True American— He seizes Paducah — 
Secession Flags — A Noble Proclamation — The "Stove-pipe Gen- 
eral," 36 

CHAPTER YT. 

Columbus — Exchange of Prisoners — Battles — General Grant writes to 
his Father — Cares for the Wounded— A New Department of Com- 
mand—Prepares for a Grand Movement upon the Enemy — His 
Strategy — Issues Orders— The Advance, 47 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Gunboats Move up the Tennessee — Delay— Open Fire upon Fort 
Henry— The Fort Surrenders— Right on to Fort Donelson — The 
Fleet Disabled — Foote "Wounded— The Forces of Grant close on 
the Fortress — The Terrific Contest— The Victory — Promotion- 
Striking Contrasts, 61 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The more the Hero does, the more is he expected to do — His King- 
dom Enlarged— Anecdote about his Habits— Major-General Grant's 
First Work — Congratulations— Martial Movements — No Plundering 
allowed— Up the River— Sword presented— Scours the Country- 
Moves toward Corinth — Preparations for Battle, 87 



CHAPTER IX. 

Saturday Night— General Grant a Scout— The Signals of Battle— The 
Combat Opens— The Scenes of Carnage — The Critical Hour — The 
Heroic Onset— The Victory— General Grant's Bravery— The Good 
News in New York and Washington — A Speech in favor of 
Grant, who is assailed— Scenes on the Battle Field of Shiloh, . . 102 



CONTENTS. 



vii 



CHAPTER X. 

Corinth the next G-oal of the Army— Getting ready to March— 
The " Grand Army of the Tennessee "—The Advance— The Siege— 
The Surrender— The Pursuit— The captured Sheep— General Hal- 
leck's Farewell— Grant at Memphis— How he deals with Traitors, 118 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Position of our Army— The Grand Programme— Armies in Mo- 
tion—Bragg tries to Deceive Grant— The Advance toward Iuka — 
The Eight— The Victory— The Stampede— General Grant's Words 
of Cheer— Despatch from the President— A Curiosity, .... 134 



CHAPTER XII. 

A larger Field, and bolder Plans— Getting Ready— Skirmishes— Cot- 
ton— Negroes — Jews— Speculators— Grant's Sense of Honor — Vicks- 
burg and the Mississippi — Farragut's Fleet— The Bombardment — 
Failure— A worthless Canal— The Noble Logan-r-Holly Springs 
Surrenders to the Rebels— Amusing Scenes, 145 



CHAPTER XHI. 

The Grand Plan Deranged— Sherman's Flotilla— His Assault on Vicks- 
burg— Defeat — Fatal Ambition — Disloyalty — President's Procla- 
mation of Freedom, and General Grant — Yicksburg again— Canals 
around the City a Failure— The Copperhead and the Bush, . . 155 



CHAPTER XIY. 

A New Plan — Admiral Farragut's Ship— Porter's Fleet— Hot Work- 
Thrilling Scene— Grierson's Raid — Ludicrous Scenes —Banks and 
Grant— Passing Grand Gulf Batteries— The Grand Advance— 
The Night March— The Night Battle— Port Gibson Taken— Gov- 
ernor Yates and the Victory, 166 



viii 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Sherman— Deceiving the Enemy— General Grant's Wisdom, and hu- 
mane Care of the Men— Ready to move again— Governor Pettus 
frightened— Grant's Despatch— A Battle— The Capital taken— 
News— Crossing the River— The Investment and Assault— The At- 
tack repeated— The Siege— The Messenger deserts — The Prison 
Fortress— Amusing Incidents, ^ 180 



CHAPTER XYI. 

The captured Courier— Grant and the Letters — The Sappers and Mi- 
ners—How they do their strange Work— All is ready— The Ex- 
plosion—The Advance— The Flag of Truce— The Message, and 
General Grant's Answer— The Capitulation — The Fourth of July 
in Vicksburg— The Glad Tidings — The Loss and Gain— The Presi- 
dent and General Grant — Scenes after the Fall of the Fortress— Bill 
of Fare— The Dead— Hurrah 1 195 



CHAPTER XYII. 

The Eastern Army— Port Hudson falls— The "Father of Waters" 
i,pen— Joe Johnston pursued — Jeff. Davis's Library found— Jack- 
son surrenders— General Grant's care of his Soldiers— His Poli- 
tics—Anecdotes—Looks after his Department— Mrs. Grant visits 
him— General Grant goes to Memphis— A splendid Reception, . 219 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

General Grant at New Orleans— His Simplicity in Dress— Reviews the 
Thirteenth Army Corps— Sad Accident— Recovers from the serious 
Injuries— He cares for the Soldier in little things— A new and larger 
Command— Chickamauga and Chattanooga— An amusing Inci- 
dent—The Feelings of the Rebels— General Grant at Chattanooga- 
Clearing the Track— Jeff. Davis on Lookout, 233 



CONTEXTS. 



ix 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Preparations for Battle again— The successful Trap— The brave Ad- 
vance of General Wood— The Contest opened— The Three Days' 
Fight— G-eneral Hooker above the Clouds— General Grant's De- 
spatch — General Bragg' s — General Meigs's Despatch — General 
Grant at the Coffin of Colonel O'Meara, 245 



CHAPTER XX. 

General Sherman at Knoxville— The President and the Victories— 
Major-General Grant's Congratulations — Colonel Ely, the Indian 
Sachem's Tribute— Excitement in "Washington— A Medal — Other 
Honors— Hon. Mr. Washburn's Speech— Grant's untiring Activity — 
Visits a sick Child — He is invited to a Banquet— Accepts the 
Honor— The brilliant Festival, 273 



CHAPTER XXI. 

The Spring Campaign— General Grant at "Washington— Scenes in 
the Hotel— The Levee— The Presentation of the Commission of 
Lieutenant-Generalship— General Grant's Reply— The summit of 
Honor — He visits the Potomac Army— The Fancy Soldier — The 
Crisis, 291 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The Advance— Richmond— The path to the Rebel Capital— The " Wil- 
derness" — The opening of Battle — The Days of Carnage — The 
Death of Sedgwick— Of General Rice— General Grant's Strategy — 
General Butler— Sheridan— Sherman — The grand flanking March 
to North Anna— Chickahominy— James River— "What the Rebels 
think, 299 

Definition of Military "Words, 337 



CHAPTER I. 

The Grant Family— The Orphan Boy— Home and Birth of Ulysses— How 
he got his Name — His School Days— Don't know what Can't means. 



BOUT a hundred years ago, two brothers, by 
the name of Grant, came from Scotland to the 
y^f^ wilderness of the New World. The grand- 
^^^T father of Ulysses settled in Pennsylvania. His 
^ son, Jesse R. Grant, was bom in Westmore- 
land County, January, 1794. With his father's family 
he went to the great and distant valley of the West, 
in the spring of 1799,— sixteen years after the war of 
the Revolution closed. There were no canals or rail- 
roads then. The usual mode of emigration was to carry 
the family and household goods in the canvas-covered 
wagon. The toilsome journey was made along rough 
roads, through dark forests, and across rapid streams. At 
length the bruised and soiled vehicle which carried his 
earthly possessions stopped in Ohio. Not a single State 
had been formed out of the extensive region called the 
Northwestern Territory, lying between the Alleghany and- 
Rocky Mountains. It was at one time claimed by the 
1 



2 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



French under the name of Louisiana, A large portion 
of this rich country was the wide hunting ground of the 
Indians. Often, while the white settler was chopping in 
the woods to clear his land, the bullet or tomahawk of 
the savage, from a thicket or behind a tree, would strike 
him ; and, falling dead, his body would be found, some- 
times a great while after, by the dear ones he left in his 
cabin. The celebrated Tecumseh was the mighty chief 
and warrior there. Bloody battles had been fought not 
far from Mr. Grant's humble dwelling. 

In 1804, when the Reserve became partially settled, 
Mr. Grant removed to Deerfield. Here he died, leaving 
Jesse fatherless. To use his own words : 

" I was left a poor orphan boy at eleven years of age, 
with none to guide my way through the world. I saw 
that I was destined to get my living by the sweat of my 
brow, and that it was necessary to select some calling that 
promised to pay the best ; so I learned the tanning busi- 
ness. I followed that until I was sixty, and then retired." 

Thus did young Jesse, from the earliest childhood 
inured to pioneer life, with God's blessing, carve his way 
alone, to an honorable position in society, and to wealth. 

"When the last war with England threw the country 
into excitement, and unsettled to some extent its business, 
the family removed to Maysville, Ky. In 1815, when 
hostilities ceased, Jesse returned to Portage County, Ohio, 
and commenced the business of tanning in Ravenna. 
Fever and ague, once the scourge of the West, compelled 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 3 

young Grant to go South again in 1820. A few months 
later he returned to Ohio. This charming region had 
already attracted enterprising people from the colonies 
East. An interesting peculiarity in the climate is alluded 
to hy early residents in their accounts of the country ; 
and that is, the cool evenings. So much of the land 
was shaded by forests, that the ground did not get warm 
during the day ; and soon as the sun dropped behind 
the green ocean of verdure, the air was cold at mid- 
summer there, as in our autumn here. This made the 
shining bosom of the wide rivers especially cheering 
to those whose humble dwellings stood on' the banks. 
Among these was the house of an emigrant from Penn- 
sylvania, who came two years before. His daughter, 
Hannah Simpson, who was born only twenty-five miles 
from Philadelphia, in Westmoreland County, a woman of 
character and prudent economy, won the heart of Jesse. 
In June, 1821, they were married. Their first home was 
at Point Pleasant on the Ohio River, in Clermont County, 
Ohio. It is a beautiful spot, below the mouth of Indian 
Creek. You will see by the map, that the Little Miami 
River separates Clermont County from Hamilton, whose 
principal town is Cincinnati, justly called the " Queen 
City" of the West. 

In this new home by the Ohio a son was born, 
April 27th, 1822. The humble dwelling is still standing 
It is " a small one-story frame cottage. It was not worth 
more than two or three hundred dollars before the war. 



4 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



But every victory gained by the general, or a promotion, 
adds in the owner's estimate another hundred dollars to 
the price of the cottage." Strangers not unfrequently 
stop, on their way down the river, to see the recently un- 
known and unnoticed home. 

The first question about him, was one which has been 
asked over every child: " What shall we name him?" 
I knew a little girl ten years of age, for whom it was 
not answered. The parents could not agree upon a 
name, so they called her " Tommy," leaving her to 
select a name whenever she could suit herself. I have 
often wondered how she succeeded in making a choice 
among all the names she had heard and seen. 

I will give you the origin of our Western boy's 
name, in the language of his 'father, who wrote me 
about it : 

" The maternal grandmother was quite a reader of his- 
tory, and had taken a great fancy to Ulysses, the great 
Grecian general, who defeated the Trojans by his strategy 
of the wooden horse. She wished the child named Ulys- 
ses. His grandfather wanted to have him named Hiram. 
So both were gratified by naming him Hiram Ulysses. 
When I wrote to Mr. Hamer, then a member of Congress 
from our district, to procure the appointment of cadet, he 
wrote to the War Department, and gave his name 1 Ulys- 
ses S. Grant.' And we could not get it altered. Simp- 
son was his mother's maiden name. We had a son named 
Simpson, and Mr Hamer confounded the two names. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



We regarded it a matter of but little consequence, and so 
let it stand." 

The absence of fear was always a characteristic of 
Ulysses. When two years of age, while Mr. Grant was 
carrying Ulysses in his arms on a public occasion through 
the village, a young man wished to try the effect of a 
pistol report on the child. Mr. Grant consented, saying, 
" The child lias never seen a pistol or gun in his life." 
The baby hand was put on the lock and pressed quietly 
there, till it snapped, and off went the charge with a loud 
report. Ulysses scarcely stirred ; but in a moment pushed 
away the pistol, saying, " Fich it again ! fich it again ! " 
A bystander remarked : " That boy will make a gen- 
eral ; for he neither winked nor dodged." It is true 
such acts in childhood, which attracted no particular 
attention at the time, are related of distinguished men, 
as very remarkable, after they have become famous. 
Still, boys usually show talent or genius if they possess 
it, for any high achievement in after life. 

At the village school, Ulysses was a faithful and 
diligent boy. He made excellent progress ; and if 
not as brilliant as others of his age, what is better, he 
was " slow and sure." 

Though he gave no striking evidences of genius — 
neither did Washington in early life— there was a beau- 
tiful resemblance to the Revolutionary leader's boyhood, 
in a peculiarity well expressed by one who ought to 
know • " There was certainly a manly, dignified modesty 



6 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



r*i his deportment which made him at least an uncommon 
lai* 

FTe patiently committed to memory the dry, hard 
lessons, sure that, when older, he would understand them 
better and find them useful ; unwilling to give up, when 
he came to a difficult question or problem. This was evi- 
dently the leading characteristic of the boy. It is re- 
lated of him, that once he seemed to be fairly bewildered 
with his task ; and a schoolmate, who saw his perplexity, 
said to him, " You can't master that." 

Ulysses replied : " Can't ! What does it mean ? n 
" Why, it means that— that you can't. There / " 
This answer was not satisfactory. The young student 
thought he would find out the exact definition. He 
took the dictionary and began the search. He^readily 
got to can, but there was no " can't" As usual, when 
beyond his own knowledge, he went to his teacher, and 
inquired : " What is the meaning of can't ? The word 
is not in the dictionary." The explanation of the abbre- 
viation was soon given. But this was not all, nor the 
best of it. The affair afforded an opportunity to impress 
the great truth upon the minds of the school, that per- 
severance in well doing is the secret of success. Added 
the instructor : 11 If in the struggles of life any person 
should assert that 1 you can't ' do a thing you had deter- 
mined to accomplish, let your answer be, 1 The word 
can't is not in the dictionary.' " It was the same lesson 
learned by Robert Bruce from the spider which repeat- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



7 



edlv failed to fasten its web, but at last succeeded. The 
desponding aspirant for the throne of Scotland put on new 
strength and fresh courage, thankful for the silent lesson 
which a kind Providence sent to hirn while he was ready 
to give up in despair. Xot many boys learn so early 
and well the lesson as did the youthful Grant. 

His father has given me another amusing little incl 
dent : 

u I will relate another circumstance, which I have 
never mentioned before, which you may use as you think 
proper. He was always regarded as extremely apt in 
figures. When he was about ten years old, a distin- 
guished phrenologist came along, and stayed several days 
in the place. He was frequently asked to examine heads, 
blindfolded. Among others, Ulysses was placed in the 
chair. The phrenologist felt his head for several minutes, 
without saying anything ; at length, a distinguished doctor 
asked him if the boy had a capacity for mathematics. 
The phrenologist, after some further examinations, said : 
\ You need not be surprised if you see this boy fill the 
Presidential chair some time.' " 



CHAPTER II. 



The "Log Hauling "—The Young Patriot wants an Education — His Op- 
portunities—How he becomes Gadet — "West Point Military Academy— 
Where and What is it ?— Young Grant as Cadet — His Classmates— He 
Graduates— Xever quarrels. 




LYSSES early showed his Scotch blood. That 
is to say, he had the substantial, strong quali- 
ties of character for which the well-trained fami- 



^ es °f Scotland are remarkable. No people are 
Q£ calmer in action and more reverent in religious 
feeling, or surpass them in intelligence and integrity. 
When twelve years of age, he gave a fine illustration of 
self-reliance and manliness, along with the ability to man- 
age difficult undertakings, which have marked his whole 
career. 

His father wanted several sticks of hewn timber 
brought from the forest. The boy had learned already 
to drive "the team," and liked nothing better than to 
take the reins. Mr. Grant told Ulysses that he might 
harness, and go for the timber ; men would be there with 
handspikes to assist in " loading up." 

Soon Ulysses was on the way, whip and " lines " in 



/ 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 9 

his hands, with the manly pride felt only in a higher 
degree by the king, or president, or general, in his 
position of honor and authority. 

TVhen he reached the forest, no men were there ; for 
some reason they had failed to appear. He looked 
around him a few moments in surprise, thinking what 
to do. 

- The natural and indeed entirely proper course would 
have been, to wait a sufficient time, and then return 
home if assistance did not come. But the tanner boy, 
accustomed to all sorts of labor, and inclined to take 
responsibility from which others of his age would expect 
to be excused, resolved not to go without the timber. 
How to get the heavy logs on the wagon was the 
serious question. Just then his eye rested on a tree 
fallen over, and leaning against another. This made 
the trunk an inclined plane, rising gradually upward 
from the ground. Ulysses saw at a glance, how to make 
the horses do the work intended for the workmen with 
their handspikes. He hitched the team to each of the 
logs, and drew one at a time near the tree, and lying 
parallel with it ; i. e., in the same direction, lengthwise. 
The next thing was to swing the end round upon the 
inclined plane, and slide it along, till the timbers were at 
right angles with it, and projecting over it, far enough 
to admit the wagon under them. Then fastening the 
horses to these ends hanging over the back of the 
wagon, he dragged them in turn along into it ; just as 



10 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



with your, hand you could pull the " see-saw " board, 
with one extremity resting on the ground, over the 
fence or fulcrum supporting it, into a vehicle of any 
kind which stood beneath the end raised from the earth. 

Having secured his load, the young teamster mounted 
it and drove homeward in triumph ; again proving clearly 
that cant was not in his dictionary. When he reined 
up his team before the door of Mr. Grant, we can imagine 
the pleasing surprise with which he heard the story of 
Ulysses. 

But the young woodman's prospects were not en- 
couraging. His father's means were limited, and, except- 
ing three months each winter in the common schoo], he 
had to assist in the work of the tannery and the home.' 
Besides, books and newspapers for reading were very scarce. 

At seventeen, Ulysses began to feel, as did his father, 
that decisive steps must be taken toward an education. 
It was often talked over at the fireside, and various plans 
suggested. The young man's taste for military life, the 
thorough instruction and economy of the Academy at 
West Point, suggested the possibility of getting an 
appointment there. The congressmen usually controlled 
the selection of the candidates for admission in their 
several districts. Political influence and position neces- 
sarilv have much to do witli the choice among the 
applicants. But Mr. Grant was hopeful. He wrote a 
letter to the Hon. Thomas Morris, member of the 
United States Senate from Ohio, requesting his influ- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRAXT. 



11 



ence to secure a place for his son in the Military 
Academy at "West Point. Mr. Morris had another ap- 
plicant, and wrote accordingly to the father of Ulysses ; 
but informed him of a vacancy in the district of Hon. 
Thomas L. Hamer. It seems that a young man who 
had been appointed there, failed, for some reason, to enter 
the institution. This was the only chance for Ulysses. 
At the suggestion of Mr. Morris, Mr. Grant immediately 
corresponded with Mr. Hamer, who cheerfully proposed 
the tanner's son to the Government. 

Young Grant was appointed. And novr he must go 
before the examiners, who would either send him home 
again, or open to him the doors of the Academy. The 
trial included, with certain preparatory branches of study, 
a physical ordeal, to ascertain whether the body were per- 
fectly sound. He passed safely through it all, and en- 
tered the school July 1st, 1839. 

West Point is a romantic and beautiful spot on the 
west bank of the Hudson River, in Cornwall, Orange 
county, New York, fifty-two miles above Xew York 
city. The plain, or plateau, as it is termed, is one 
hundred and eighty-eight feet from the water ; with an 
abrupt bank to protect it, and on the south and south- 
west, lofty summits to shut it in. Fort Putnam is more 
than four hundred feet higher, and looks down upon it 
One beautiful plat of land is known as Kosciusko's 
Garden, in which stands the fine monument of this Polish 
refugee and patriot, who commanded the post at one time 



12 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



daring the Revolution. Here a massive chain was 
stretched across the river to keep the enemy's boats 
from passing. 

The Academy was established by act of Congress, 
in 1780 ; and is allowed to have only two hundred and 
fifty cadets, from fourteen to twenty-one years of age. 
Each of them is paid enough per month to defray all his 
expenses. By this method, instead of paying the bills 
for them, a manly independence is cultivated, while at the 
same time the education is gratuitous. They, in return, 
are to serve at least eight years in the army, unless allowed 
to resign or are dismissed. 

The scenery is charming, and the school has every 
facility for a thorough preparation to enter any part of 
the military service. You recollect it was the scene of 
Arnold's treachery in 1780, which cost the accomplished 
spy, Major Andre, his life. Here Ulysses found just the 
means of culture he wanted. "With a fondness for 
mathematics, he could enjoy the class drill, which is not 
surpassed in the country, and also have the finest appa- 
ratus for the demonstration of difficult problems, and all 
the science of war. 

Grant, unlike a large number of the cadets, had 
no previous academic or collegiate course. But his 
studious habits, his close attention to the stringent rules 
of the institution, soon gave him a high position. 
Whether in the recitation room, in the military exercise, 
or in the annual encampment of the cadets, he attended to 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



13 



his own business; Trilling to ' : bide his time H in the 
career of honorable success. 

And, my young reader, I must show you 7 in his own 
words, which I quote again from a letter, how Mr. Jesse 
R. Grant, Ulysses's father, spoiled a story of the Cadet's 
life. I intended to close this chapter with the narrative, 
which was already printed, purporting to be a fact, of a 
quarrel with his comrades, because, in accordance with 
the foolish custom, in literary institutions, of .playing off 
practical jokes upon the freshman class, they made him 
the target of fun. The father says : 

" The story about his 1 flogging ' the captain is untrue. 

He is said to have never had a personal controversy in his 

life. The nearest approach to it was with General 

H , at the siege of Corinth. He says he desired 

moving on the enemy 7 s works ten days before General 

H was ready, and saw that, by delay, they would 

lose the chance of bashing the rebel army, then COm- 
C^C O v " 

pletely in their power. He is sure he used stronger lan- 
guage to General H - ._ than he had ever used before to 
any person, and expected to be arrested and tried. But 
the General said to him : - If I had let you take your own 
course, you would have taken the rebel army. Hereafter 
I will not dictate to vou about the management of an 
army.' It was a common remark among the boys, when 
Ulysses , got his appointment, that 'Lis' would make a 
good cadet in every respect but one ; that was, if he ever 
was engaged in war, he was too goodnatured to be kicked 



14 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



into a fight. In addition to freedom from personal contro- 
versy, it is believed he never used a profane word, nor told 
a deliberate falsehood — at least, under the parental roof. 
He was brought up in a Methodist family." 

The allusion to Corinth you will understand better 
when you read the account of its siege. "What an inter- 
esting glimpse is here given of " Lis," as his playmates 
called him ! He was modest, kind, reverent, and true, in 
the bosom of that religious family, the parents little 
dreaming what a hero and nation's benefactor was trained 
under the humble roof, for his unrivaled field of action. 

The freshman year passed away, and the annual trial 
of scholarship, dreaded by pupils who feel unprepared 
for it, camp. Not a few failed in the examination 
of 1840, and left the institution, or fell back to a lower 
position ; but Grant advanced to the third or next class, 
receiving also the appointment of corporal in the battal- 
ion of cadets. His progress was steady but not bril- 
liant, in mathematics, French, drawing, and cavalry 
exercises. Quiet, sure of what he learned, and confident 
he could accomplish the thing he proposed to do, he was 
a fine example of the modest, reliable, and really suc- 
cessful student. 

When the examination of 1841 asrain thinned the 

o 

number of those with whom he started, he took no back- 
ward step, advancing to his place in the second class. 
The office of sergeant of the battalion, was a compliment 
given him by the cadets, for the summer encampment. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GEAXT. 



15 



The hour of recitation, whether in philosophy, chemis- 
try, or drawing, found him ready for the unsparing pro- 
fessor. He acquitted himself well in horsemanship, in 
infantry tactics, which relate to the use of small arms, and 
in artillery, or the handling of heayy guns. The next year, 
in a class of less than half the original number, he entered 
upon the last and crowning course of studies. He was 
honored with a commission as officer of cadets, who could 
command either a section, troop, or company. Few young 
persons bear, with propriety, authority. It often creates 
self-conceit or petty tyranny. But Cadet Grant won re- 
spect by doing just what belonged to his office, and no 
more. Faithful to his position, he was kind and respectful 
to all. He made the most of this last year at the 
academy. 

Engineering, which is the science of building fortifica- 
tions, bridges, &c, with the dry rules of law in its appli- 
cation to the country, military affairs, and the conduct 
of nations toward each other, he mastered by careful 
and hard study. Meanwhile, he perfected himself in horse- 
manship, and became one of the finest riders in the insti- 
tution. 

June 30th, 1843, only thirty young men of the hun- 
dred who put on the gray suit of the cadet four years 
before, graduated. The Ohio boy was Xo. 21, or 
nearly in the middle of the class. The country youth 
of seyenteen, who came from a district school, left be- 
hind him along his academic career seyenty-uine of 



16 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



his classmate?, among whom were sons of senators and 
of professional men. Many of them had been to college. 
Such was the reward of industry and a good character ; 
a determination to do well, with a patient, honest straight- 
forward course to secure his object. "Without such 
qualities and exertion, Ulysses would have only been a 
poor tanner, or a very common farmer in the West. 

Among those who finished the regular course with Ca- 
det Grant at the Academy, were many distinguished officers 
in the Mexican war, and others who became conspicuous 
commanders in the great civil conflict of the Republic. 
The first in the class was Major-General W. B. Eranklin, 
who led the Nineteenth Army Corps under General 
Banks. Generals Ingalls, Steele, and Judah, were of the 
same company of graduates. It is sad to know that several 
of them fought under the flag of secession, — brave officers 
in a bad cause. They little dreamed, while under the 
" star-spangled-banner " at West Point, enjoying its pro- 
tection in the walks of science, and among the glorious 
scenery of the Hudson, with the warning example of 
Arnold suggested by it, that they should stand in battle 
array against each other. But such has been the result of 
home education in the hostile principles of freedom and 
oppression. The harvest of death and ruin on the field 
of war, followed the moral seed-sowing of many vears, in 
the hearts of the people. A cultivated mind with wrong 
principles, is like a splendid engine off the track — it will 
do only harm. 



CHAPTER III. 





The Young Lieutenant— He joins his Regiment — Goes to Louisiana— Is in 
the Mexican War— The First Battle— The Long March— Vera Cruz- 
Returns to the States— Is Married— Ordered to Oregon— Resigns. 

^OUR, long years of study and drill were now 
Nobly proud and happy cadet ! The 
educated young man looks out upon a life of 
service and honor. "What shall be the first 
step ? The army of the United States was 
scattered through the land, doing little besides occupy- 
ing forts as garrisons, guarding the frontier wherever 
threatened by troublesome Indians, and superintending 
the opening of military roads through the wilderness. 
Vacancies in command did not often occur, and the new 
graduates must be content with the honorary titles of 
command. Grant was therefore breveted second lieu- 
tenant of the Fourth Regular Infantry, performing the 
duties of a private soldier. He joined his regiment, 
stationed at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, and, with 
it, went on the occasional expeditions into the wild 
country lying back of the settlements scattered along the 
great rivers, to protect the defenceless inhabitants from 
2 



18 



LIFE OF GENEEAL GEANT. 



the incursions of their savage neighbors. In the spring of 
1844 he removed with his regiment up the Bed Biver, in 
Louisiana. 

While alluding to the aborigines, I must tell you that 
our Government, and the Indian agents and traders, have 
been far more guilty than the red men in regard to deeds 
of violence these have committed. This all our best 
military officers who have been among them will tell 
you. Scarcely an instance of massacre or war is re- 
corded, which cannot be traced directly to some outrage 
upon them— such as breaking treaty, defrauding them of 
money due them — or robbing them of property. We 
have treated the poor Indian as if he were under no 
government, human or divine, but lawful plunder for the 
white man. No Christian person, certainly, can doubt 
that Providence, in the civil war, chastised the nation on 
account of such oppressive and treacherous treatment of 
the red race, along with the enslavement and cruel abuse 
of the African. 

Months passed away without any striking events in 
this frontier-life of Lieutenant Grant. But a war-cloud 
was now gathering on the Southern horizon. Mexico and 
the United States had been disputing about the boundary 
line of Texas, which became about this time a State. 
Texas claimed more territory than Mexico said ' was 
hers. There was apparently no very strong desire on 
our part to settle the quarrel on righteous principles. 
Southern feeling and interests, which at last brought on 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 19 

the great Rebellion, led ambitious politicians to urge the 
claims of the Texans. The more territory given to 
slavery, the stronger would the aristocratic owners of 
the multiplying victims of their mercenary, aspiring desire, 
and lust, become. Mexico refused to yield to our 
demands. Both parties were willing to enter the field 
of deadly conflict. The Government determined to send 
to the border an u army of occupation ; " that is, a force 
to secure the observance of the prescribed limit of Texas 
lands. General Zachary Taylor was the commander ; a 
very heroic officer, and afterward President of the United 
States. This was in 1845. Lieutenant Grant was in 
the expedition, and marched with his regiment to Corpus 
Christi, where the troops were concentrating. The town 
' is in Xueces County, and very important because situated 
on the southern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, and near 
the disputed territory. Vessels could bring supplies, and 
the troops move from it over the country. 

Meanwhile young Grant was promoted to the rank of 
first lieutenant in the Seventh Eegiment of the United 
States Infantry. But he was anxious to stay with his old 
comrades and the officers under whom he served, and 
requested the Government to let him remain. He was 
gratified in his choice ; and the brevet or compli- 
mentary appointment was exchanged for the substantial 
honor of a regular commission as Second Lieutenant of 
the Fourth Infantry. The winter passed away with 
nothing decisive in military movements, till May 23d. 



20 



EIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



1846, when Mexico declared war, on the ground that we 

had invaded her territory. 

General Taylor occupied the banks of the Rio Grande, 
opposite Matamoros, where the Mexicans were in force. 
Here he heard that the enemy were between him and 
Point Isabel, at the mouth of the river, and also threaten- 
ing Fort Brown further up the stream. He at once re- 
solved to reinforce the troops at the former place, and 
relieve the imperilled garrison at Fort Brown. 

"When the forces left the headquarters opposite Mata- 
moros, whose guns were pointed toward our earthworks, 
the bells rang merrily ; the people supposing the Ameri- 
can troops were evacuating their position. The case 
was far otherwise, to the joy of Lieutenant Grant. The 
blooming, glorious spring of the South was inspiring ; 
the grand old mountains in the distance were sublimely 
suggestive ; but he felt, with a quiet enthusiasm pecu- 
liar to his nature, more deeply still, the stirring prospect 
of his first battle on the plains of national conflict. It is 
painful to recollect, that Generals Lee and Beauregard, of 
the rebel army, were among the most patriotic and able 
officers in the opening war. A glance at the map will show 
you that Point Isabel, Palo Alto, and Resaca de la Palma, 
lie on the Rio Grande, which separates Texas from 
Mexico, between the Gulf and Fort Brown. The army 
were marching on this line of towns toward the fort, 
when they met the Mexicans at Palo Alto. The engage- 
ment was sharp and bloody. Lieutenant Grant fought 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



21 



bravely, winning the admiration of the men and superior 
officers. 

The next day the battle opened again at Resaca de 
la Palma, with fatal fury. The Mexican ranks were 
thinned, and reeled before our fire, leaving the field strewn 
with the slain, but under the " Stars and Stripes." Grant 
escaped unhurt, and with a growing reputation for 
gallantry in the fight. He was modest as he was brave, 
caring more for the character of a true soldier and 
patriot, than for the honors others less deserving migV 
receive. The victorious battalions advanced up the Ric 
Grande, clearing the Texan frontier of the Mexicans ; the 
lieutenant sharing the hardships and perils with the de- 
light of a warrior who became one from taste and delib- 
erate choice. The army then swept down the river into 
the enemy's country, toward Monterey, a strongly fortified 
position. A terribly severe but successful engagement 
resulted in the surrender of the place. Lieutenant Grant, 
in the desperate contest, was fearless and courageous, in 
the cheerful, faithful discharge of duty. 

The time had come for a great and decisive struggle 
for victory and peace. The magnificent Mexican capital 
was to be the goal of the augmented forces under the 
command of General Scott, who was at the head of the 
United States army. His fleet came up the bay March 
9th, 1847, bringing twelve thousand troops, with stream- 
ers flying and bands playing. It was a splendid sight. He 
landed the men safely at Sacrificios, three miles from Vera 



22 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Cruz, through the surf rolling high with crested breakers 
on the beach. General Taylor's forces were ready to join 
him in the siege of Vera Cruz, a strong and well-defended 
city, with its celebrated castle San Juan de Ulloa. Bays 
of- fearful warfare followed ; but the Mexicans were com- 
pelled, at length, to yield to the valor of our troops. 

In April, 1847, with our colors waving over the battle- 
ments of Vera Cruz, the army prepared to advance into the 
heart of the hostile territory. Lieutenant Grant was appoint- 
ed quartermaster of his regiment. It was a post of responsi- 
bility, which required good judgment, honesty, and business 
ability. The officer had in charge the subsistence of troops 
and horses, and the general care of whatever had to do with 
the material interests of the forces in his department. Be- 
sides, this mark of confidence in his superior capacity gave 
him a place on the commander's staff, the group of officers 
who act as his escort and aid him in the execution of 
orders. The quartermaster, unless especially needed and 
called to the service on the staff, could remain in his own 
department in time of battle. But Grant preferred to 
mingle in the fray ; and when the shot and shell began 
to fly, he was on his steed and on the plains of death. 

The autumn of 1847 brought the terrible struggle of 
Molino del Rev. So prompt and reckless of danger 
was the calm, heroic lieutenant, riding coolly through the 
leaden hail, that he was appointed first lieutenant on the 
spot. Congress, which often is slow to recognize true 
merit, and confers undeserved honors, did not confirm the 



LIFE OF GENEKAL GRANT. 



23 



commission ; and he refused to accept an empty brevet. 
The crimson field of Molino del Rev was won September 
8th. Five days later, Chapultepec, a frowning, formidable 
stronghold, was stormed. Up to the battlements, raining 
destruction upon the assailants, the ranks of brave men 
sternly moved. None among them all was more daring 
and gallant than Grant. I will furnish the interesting 
proof of his splendid conduct, from the official reports of 
the officers of the day. Captain Brooks, of the Second 
Artillery, writes : 

" I succeeded in reaching the fort with a few men 
Here Lieutenant U. S. Grant, and a few more men of 
the Fourth Infantry, found me, and, by a joint move- 
ment, after an obstinate resistance, a strong field work 
was carried, and the enemy's right was completely 
turned." 

Major Lee, in his report, says of the young soldier's 
conduct at Chapultepec : 

" At the first barrier the enemy was in strong force, 
which rendered it necessary to advance with caution. 
This was done ; and when the head of the battalion 
was within short musket range of the barrier, Lieuten- 
ant Grant, Fourth Infantry, and Captain Brooks, Second 
Artillery, with a few men of their respective regiments, 
by a handsome movement to the left, turned the right 
flank of the enemy, and the barrier was carried. Lieu- 
tenant Grant behaved with distinguished gallantry on the 
13th and 14th." 



21 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



The rising commander thus early learned the art oi 
outflanking the enemy ; displaying a cool, unyielding 
valor, rather than a dashing and ambitious warfare. 

Colonel Garland, of the First Brigade, speaks very 
highly of Grant in the same action : 

" The rear of the enemy had made a stand hehirid a 
breastwork, from which they were driven by detachments 
of the Second Artillery, under Captain Brooks, and the 
Fourth Infantry, under Lieutenant Grant, supported by 
other regiments of the division, after a short, sharp con- 
flict. I recognized the command as it came up, mounted 
a howitzer on the top of a convent, which, under the 
direction of Lieutenant Grant, quartermaster of the 
Fourth Infantry, and Lieutenant Lendrum, Third Artil- 
lery, annoyed the enemy considerably. I must not omit 
"to call attention to Lieutenant Grant, who acquitted him- 
self most nobly upon several occasions under my observa- 
tion." 

There was an additional evidence of the hero's steady 
progress in the career of fame. He was brevetted captain 
in the United States Army, his rank to date from the 
great battle of Chapultepec, September 13th, 1847. 

When, not long after, the victorious army entered 
Mexico, the splendid capital, Grant participated in the 
magnificent parade, and enjoyed the glory of the final 
achievement, to which all previous battles had been opening 
the way. Lieutenant Grant was in fourteen battles. 

The treaty of peace was signed in February, 1848, on 



LIJE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



25 



the 22d of which, the noble and venerable J. Q. Adams 
was struck down in death on the floor of the Capitol, ex- 
claiming, at the close of a long and blameless life of useful- 
ness, " This is the last of earth." On July 4th, President 
Polk issued the formal proclamation of peace between the 
United States and Mexico. A large extent of territory 
was ceded to us, and we paid, on our part, several millions 
of dollars to the Mexican Government. The war cost us 
twenty-five thousand men, and seventy-five millions of 
dollars. 

The disbanded army was again distributed among the 
forts in the States, and alons; the frontier. The hero of 
Chapultepec now made a new conquest. He won the 
hand of a Miss Dent, a sensible and excellent young lady, 
near St. Louis, Mo., and was married in August of that 
year. His military home was first at Detroit, Mich., 
and then at Sackett's Harbor, a post on Lake Ontario, 
in Northern New York. There was little to do in time 
of peace in these quiet barracks near a small and pleasant 
village. He is remembered by the people in Watertown, 
a handsome place several miles distant, as having a 
passion for playing checkers, — a game which, perhaps, my 
young readers have played, and is among the most harm- 
less pastimes of the kind, because not often carried to 
excess, or associated with dangerous games of chance; 
The quartermaster (for in this position he continued), with 
characteristic perseverance and patience, would contest the 



26 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



advantage to be gained by the moves, and was hard to 
beat. 

At this time, many of the settlers on the plains of 
California, were without law and order ; they were gold 
seekers, and reckless men. It becoming necessary to send 
a military force to restrain their passions, and prevent In- 
dian depredations and massacre, the Fourth Infantry were 
selected to visit the Pacific coast. Lieutenant Grant went 
with a portion of it to Oregon. This wild and romantic 
life was very similar to that in the South, soon after he 
left West Point. The solitary marches in the grand old 
woods, the ancient rocks and rivers, with perils from the 
savages, had attractions for the voting and adventurous 
spirit. While here, his regular commission as captain 
in the infantry came — another step in the career of 
honor. 

After two years' service in the far and almost unin- 
habited "West, Captain Grant saw so little prospect of 
activity and promotion, that he resigned his place in the 
army, and returned to his family near the city of St. 
Louis, to try his fortune in civil life. We shall see 
how he succeeded. 



CHAPTER IV. 




The Captain turns Farmer— He is not Afraid of 'Work— In the Leather 
Trade— The Call to Arms again— Captain offers his Service— His First 
Post of Duty— Is appointed Colonel. 

^OR fifteen years the heroic Captain had handled 
books, firearms, and sword, instead of logs, 
leather, and horsewhip. What shall he do now, 
without office and employment ? It did not 
cost him a tear nor take him long to put off 
the " regimentals," and appear in an old felt hat, blouse 
coat, and pants tucked into his boots, on a small farm in 
the neighborhood of Mr. Dent, his father-in-law, south- 
west of St. Louis. He had early learned to " rough it " 
in the woods of the West, and among the vats of the 
tannery. Had you been in St. Louis, you might have 
seen him in the winter, mounted on his wagon, in which 
a cord of wood was well packed, and driving the team 
into the city. Citizens of St. Louis recollect the plainly; 
dressed man who came with his load, delivered it to the 
purchaser, and returned to his country retreat. 

With the hot Southern summer came leisure from 



28 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRAXT. 



the woodman's traffic, and our hero must look for lighter 
work. His fine education qualified him for any busi- 
ness, and his character attracted the confidence of all. 
His neighbors were glad to employ and aid a stranger 
who was so generous and true as Captain Grant. He 
was just the collector some of them wanted to " dun " 
negligent debtors. They therefore put into his hands 
their debts. Like all the truly noble men of the world, 
he was honest and sincere in his dealings ; and, trusting 
too readily to the apologies and promises of delinquent 
debtors, he had but small success. His failure reminds 
one of the forcible proverb : 11 It takes a rogue to catch a 
rogue." That is to say, a pure-minded person, unused to 
business contact with the unprincipled and vicious, makes 
a poor detective of rogues. 

The Captain found that he was not made for a tax- 
gatherer or an auctioneer, or even a farmer. He was 
neither a talker, schooled to hard, suspicious dealings 
with his fellows, nor in the economical management of a 
farm. Military culture and habits were exactly the oppo- 
site in their fruits of character. Law, order, promptness, 
and manly bearing, were the lessons which had followed 
those of a virtuous and humble home. 

The year 1859 brought, therefore, a change again in 
the plans of Grant. His tannery education now served 
him well. From his father in the West came a proposi- 
tion to go into the leather and saddlery trade with him. 
What a singular and pleasant fact ! The hero of Chapul- 



\ 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 29 

tepee again called by parental love to handle the tanned 
skins of cattle and sheep, and even horses, instead of the 
burnished sword and the military cap. 

He removed to the city of Galena, on the banks of 
Fevre river, in Jo Daviess comity, Illinois. The broad 
stream pours its waters into the Mississippi only six miles 
below the town. Along the river the shores rise to 
highlands or bluffs, sometimes very steep and grand. 
Galena is built on one of these. The streets consequently 
rise one above the other, like paths on a hillside, with 
steps between them. It was not only, as you see, a 
curious and picturesque city, but, being near the Missis- 
sippi and having a good harbor, was a centre of com- 
mercial life, of trade and resort, for a large region 
lying back of it. Soon the new sign of " Grant & 
Son " began to attract customers. The soldier re- 
calls his early knowledge of the business, and quietly 
talks over the qualities and prices of his piles and rolls 
of leather. 

The trade prospers ; far and near the establishment 
becomes known. A great many shoemakers work up 
Captain Grant's goods, and the feet of his customers 
wear the contribution to " the arts of peace " made by him. 
It would really seem as if the Captain had settled down 
into a nice, permanent business, and his name would be? 
come famous as a successful, wealthy leather merchant. 
But it was the lull before a* stormy life. An Illinois law- 
yer, in the autumn of 1860, was elected President of the 



30 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



United States. The Southern politicians, who had for 
nearly half a century controlled the councils of the nation 
with a sleepless regard to the continuance of slavery, all the 
time desiring and hoping that the time of separation from 
the laboring North would come, were angry at the election 
of Mr. Lincoln. Then came, you will recollect, secession 
at Charleston, South Carolina, and, a few months later, the 
attack on Fort Sumter. This was a declaration of war by 
the South. That is to say, the thunder of the cannon 
around this fortress, named after the brave Gen. Thomas 
Sumter, of the Revolutionary War, who was called, on 
account of his successful bravery, " the Carolina Game 
Cock," revealed the dark plot of disunion, and the purpose 
to fight for it. The President, who is the commander-in- 
chief of all the forces of the. United States, asked for 
volunteers to meet the terrible necessity of bloody war. 
Captain Grant was a loyal soldier, and his patriotism shone 
the more brightly because he did not belong to the Re- 
publican party, but had to some extent the feelings of a 
citizen of the South. 

One morning, on reaching the store, and reading in the 
morning paper the account of the bombardment of Sum- 
ter, he walked round the counter, drew on his coat, and 
remarked : " Uncle Sam educated me for the army, aud, 
although I have served faithfully through one war, I feel 
that I am still a little in debt for my education, and I am 
ready and willing to discharge the obligation." He the^ 
said : " I am for the war, to put down this wicked rebellion 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



31 



Noble and high resolve ! The true-hearted wife would 
not, had it been possible, dissuade him from it. The store 
was deserted. Captain Grant went into the street, con- 
sulted with a few men, and soon succeeded in raising a 
company, with which he went to Springfield, and tendered 
it to the Governor. 

An Illinois representative also called upon Governor 
Yates, to recommend to him Mr. Grant as a fit person for 
some military position. The Governor, having received 
applications from men over six feet in height and of mus- 
cular frames, curiously eyed the small man, attired in 
homespun, who stood before him as an applicant. 

President, governors, and people were like men awak- 
ing from sleep when the civil strife began. They hardly 
knew how to meet the new and alarming crisis. And, as 
the story goes, Governor Yates had no appointment for 
Grant, and he therefore left. 

A short time after this occurrence, the Governor 
was very much distressed in regard to the raising of 
the quota of the State. He had plenty of offers for 
officers' positions, but he personally did not know the 
minutiae of regimental organizations, — how many privates 
composed a company, or how many subordinate officers 
there should be in a regiment. In his embarrassment he 
asked the representative if that plain little man to whom- 
he had been introduced knew anything of those matters. 
The representative replied by bringing Grant into the 
Governor's presence. 



32 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" Do you understand the organization of troops ? " 
inquired the Governor. 

The reply was in the affirmative. 
- " Will you accept a desk in my office for that pur- 
pose ? " was the next question. 

" Anything to serve my country," was his reply. 

And to work he at once went ; and but for this, 
Captain Grant might still be unknown to the world. 

To show you the spirit of the loyal Governor, and that 
he was just the man to appreciate Grant, soon as he knew 
him, here is a part of the letter he wrote to a citizen of 
Oskaloosa, who complained that traitors had cut down his 
flag, and inquired what he should do. The patriotic Yates 
replied as follows : " You say that the pole which floated 
the Stars and Stripes on the Fourth of July was cut down 
by secessionists, and that, at a picnic which you are to have, 
it is threatened that the flag shall be taken down, and you 
ask me whether you would be justifiable in defending the 
flag with firearms. I am astonished at this question, as 
much as if you were to ask me whether you would have a 
right to defend your property against robbers, or your life 
against murderers ! You ask me what you shall do ? I 
reply, Do not raise the American flag merely to provoke 
your secession neighbors ; do not be on the aggressive ; but 
whenever you raise it on your own soil, or on the public 
property of the States or county, or at any public celebra- 
tion, from honest love to the flag and patriotic devotion to 
the country which it symbolizes, and any traitor dares to 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



33 



lay his unhallowed hand upon it to tear it down, shoot 
him as you would a dog, and I will pardon you for the 
offence." 

The volunteers poured in from the magnificent prairies 
of Illinois. Captain Grant had shown the Governor that 
he knew how to raise and manage men ; his State taking 
the first place in the great West in the noble and priceless 
offering of her sons. I recollect one of these prairie farm- 
ers, of whom I must tell you. He was a youthful and de- 
voted son, living with his parents on beautiful land, whose 
rising harvest seemed to say to the volunteer, " Don't go 
away." The tearful, parental eyes, while the lips by silence 
gave consent to his departure, added, " How can we spare 
you ? " But treason was abroad, and his language was, 
" I must go. I freely give my life to my country. My 
farm is worthless unless rebellion is crushed, and life itself 
of no account." In one of the first battles he was wounded. 
"When the wound healed, and his arm hung useless by his 
side, with a ragged bullet hole in his military coat, he said : 
" I only ask to go again, and see it through, even if I fall in 
battle. But war is a perfect despotism. The soldier is 
nothing but a machine. "When told to go, he must march ; 
when commanded to stand still, he must stop. Yet it is 
right; unquestioned authority is necessary over such 
masses of men." 

This style of hero was just what Grant admired, 
for he was of the same type. And he longed for 
the field of conflict. His untiring and earnest work in 
3 



34 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 



the mustering deparment, did not satisfy his martial 
spirit. The Governor knew this, 

In two weeks, the Governor told him he was called 
upon by the President to send two names for the office of 
brigadier-general ; and proposed his name for one of them. 
The Captain, now Adjutant, declined the honor because 
he was a stranger. He never sought promotion, but 
earned it. 

After the great work of meeting the call upon his 
State was finished, about the middle of June, 1861, Cap- 
tain Grant repaired to his father's house in Covington, 
Ky. ; a dutiful son, who knew that it might be his last 
visit there. TTe shall never read a record of the ten- 
der words from the now venerable father, nor of filial 
affection from the worthy son. . 

While under the paternal roof, a commission was 
issued by Governor Yates, making the late adjutant-gen- 
eral, colonel of the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Vol- 
unteers, dated June 15, 1861. At first, a fine-looking man 
was chosen colonel ; but, having no military capacity, the 
regiment fell into disorder, and became the terror of the 
neighborhood where it was encamped. The Governor 
refused to commission the nominee of the regiment, and, 
by telegraph, inquired if Grant would take the troops, and 
bring the turbulent mass to order. His reply was like 
him, — he was ready, and sure of success. 

A full regiment numbers about one thousand soldiers. 
But the term sometimes indicates more, and often less ; 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



35 



as when, after disease and bullets have done their 
work, not more' than half or a third of the original number 
remain. Not far from this very time, a splendid regiment 
crowded in long and glittering lines Washington street, 
Boston, from one curb-stone to the other. A year after- 
ward I saw only one hundred and twenty-five left, able to 
march, with blackened and torn banners, and their apparel 
and faces nearly as dark with exposure and powder-smoke. 
They still bore their proud name, as when the multitude 
admired and cheered their full and manly ranks. 



CHAPTER V. 




Three Months Men— Colonel Grant joins his Kegiment— In Camp— Off for 
the Field of Action — A Rapid March — Promotion— Grant loses no Time 
— He is Commissioned Brigadier-G-eneral— A G-ood Story — Headquarters 
at Cairo — A True American— He seizes Paducah— Secession Flags — A 
Noble Proclamation — The " Stove-pipe General." 

^HEN the first call for volunteers was issued, it 
was believed that the secessionists would be 
confined almost entirely to South Carolina, and 
a few in others of the cotton-growing States, 
where the slaves were most valuable to their 
owners. For this reason only seventy-five thousand sol- 
diers, to serve three months, were asked for in all the 
Northern States. The Twenty-first Illinois belonged to the 
number ; but they said if Grant commanded, and they were 
needed longer, they would reenlist. The brave fellows were 
as good as their word. Colonel Grant hastened to his own 
State, and joined his regiment at Mattoon, where it was 
organized. He then removed the troops to Casseyville for 
encampment. As if by magic, the gathering volunteers 
were transferred to the little canvas city, with its guards and 
sentinels, its frequent drill, and all the means of prepara- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



37 



tion for the field of deadly conflict. "Without display of 
authority or noise, the Colonel kindly enforced the sever- 
est discipline, setting the example of obedience to supe- 
riors, and of simplicity in style of living. For a month 
this training continued, relieved by the presence of citizens 
to look upon the novel scene in our hitherto peaceful land, 
and the more welcome visits to the soldiers from so many 
Western homes, of sister, wife, and mother. 

An application was made to the Governor to send a 
regiment to Quincy, one hundred and twenty miles distant. 
The trouble with the Governor was not the want of men, 
but the lack of transportation.' 

" Send my regiment," said Grant, il and I will find the 
transportation." 

The command was given, and before night the regi- 
ment was under orders to march. On foot it was trans- 
ported to Quincy ; and when the men were there en- 
camped, they were reported as belonging to one of the 
best disciplined regiments of Illinois volunteers. 

At length the welcome order to the men came, to 
strike tents and be ready to march away to the field of 
conflict, turning their backs upon the scenes and friends 
of former days, perhaps forever. 

The soldiers get very tired of the camp life. There is 
such monotony ; no excitement of any importance, and but 
little to do. They prefer the toils of warfare and the storm 
of bullets, to the dull security of encampment. 

Oh, it was a stirring scene on the morning of the 



38 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



march! The boys packed the knapsacks, rolled up the 
blankets, and down with the tents in a hurry. Colonel 
Grant rode at the head of the columns, which formed in 
glad haste at the word of command. His calm face was 
lit up with rational delight. The natural lent of his genius, 
his years of experience in military affairs, and, more than 
all else, the sacred cause which led him away to the ene- 
my's lines, inspired him with hope and courage. Reaching 
the Mississippi River, the troops embarked, and in fine style 
crossed the Father of Waters into Missouri. Then they 
swept along the war-path with rapid marches, leaving 
behind them, in six days, a distance of one hundred miles. 
The cars then bore them on as much further in a few 
hours, toward Northern Missouri. Their first duty was to 
guard the Hannibal and St. Joseph's Railroad, lying nearly 
west of Springfield, Illinois, as will be seen by reference to 
the map, and connecting the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. 
It is one of the railways which forms a link in the great 
chain of iron tracks connecting the vast and growing West 
with the older and enterprising East. The indispensable 
army work assigned to Colonel Grant's troop, was very 
forcibly apparent in a recent visit to the Potomac " front/' 
For more than sixty miles from Washington, through the 
Old Dominion, which was one wide desert, with graves and 
carcasses of horses and mules, over which the crows were 
flying in myriads, the military road was protected by 
encampments of troops, looking in the distance like vil- 
lages of white tents and log cabins, a few miles apart. At 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



39 



some points "block houses" were built, from whose second 
story the road could be seen in both directions, and the 
deadly bullet fired. 

Several regiments had been ordered on this service, 
having their headquarters in Northern Missouri, and 
wanted a general. Who shall have this honor, from asso- 
ciates equally willing to accept it, till a regular appoint- 
ment is made ? Although the youngest colonel on the 
ground, Colonel Grant was selected, and became acting 
brigadier-general — another step in the line of promotion. 

He took this command on the 31st of July, 1861, at a 
place called Mexico, on the North Missouri Eailroad, south 
of the Hannibal and St. Joseph's. It was in the " District 
of North Missouri," and in the department of General 
Pope. The whole field of military operations is divided 
into distinct territories, each under the command of a gen- 
eral who has the direction of its martial movements. 

August 9th, Grant was commissioned brigadier-general, 
and ordered to Southern Missouri, when General Jeff. 
Thompson was ready to advance upon us. He went to 
Ironton, and then to Marble Creek, where he built fortifi- 
cations and placed a garrison to defend it. Jefferson City 
was threatened, too, and he hurried on to that town. For 
ten days his forces protected the place. 

A member of the hero's staff relates an amusing and 
characteristic story of him during his Missouri campaigns : 

"The hero and veteran, who was citizen, captain, colo- 
nel, brigadier and major-general within a space of nine 



40 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



months, though a rigid disciplinarian, and a perfect Iron- 
sides in the discharge of his official duties, could enjoy a 
good joke, and is always ready to perpetrate one when an 
opportunity presents. Indeed, among" his acquaintances 
he is as much renowned for his eccentric humor as he is 
for his skill and bravery as a commander. 

" "When Grant was a brigadier in Southeast Missouri, 
he commanded an expedition against the rebels under Jeff. 
Thompson, in Northeast Arkansas. The distance from 
the starting point of the expedition to the supposed rendez- 
vous of the rebels was about one hundred and ten miles, 
and the greater portion of the route lay through a howling 
wilderness. The imaginary suffering that our soldiers 
endured during the first two days of their march was 
enormous. It was impossible to steal or " confiscate " un- 
cultivated real estate, and not a hog, or a chicken, or an 
ear of corn was anywhere to be seen. On the third day, 
however, affairs looked more hopeful, for a few small 
specks of ground, in a state of partial cultivation, were 
here and there visible. On that clay, Lieutenant Wick- 
field, of an Indiana cavalry regiment, commanded the 
advance guard, consisting of eight mounted men. About 
noon he came up to a small farmhouse, from the outward 
appearance of which he judged that there might be some- 
thing fit to eat inside. He halted his company, dismount- 
ed, and with two second lieutenants entered the dwelling. 
He knew that Grant's incipient fame had already gone out 
through all that country, and it occurred to him that by 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



41 



representing himself to be the general he might obtain the 
best the house afforded. So, assuming a very imperative 
demeanor, he accosted the inmates of the house, and told 
them he must have something for himself and staff to eat. 
They desired to know who he was, and he told them that 
he was Brigadier-General Grant. At the sound of that 
name they flew around with alarming alacrity, and served 
up about all they had in the house, taking great pains all 
the while to make loud professions of loyalty. The lieu- 
tenants ate as much as they could of the not over-sumptu- 
ous meal, but which was, nevertheless, good for that coun- 
try, and demanded what was to pay. 1 Nothing.' And 
they went on their way rejoicing. 

" In the mean time General Grant, who had halted his 
army a few miles further back for a brief resting spell, 
came in sight of, and was rather favorably impressed with 
the appearance of this same house. Riding up to the 
fence in front of the door, he desired to know if they 
would cook him a meal. 

" 1 No, 5 said a female, in a gruff voice ; ■ General 
Grant and his staff have just been here, and eaten every- 
thing in the house except one pumpkin pie.' 

" ( Humph,' murmured Grant ; i what is your name ? J 

" 1 Selvidge,' replied the woman. 

" Casting a half dollar in at the door, he asked if she • 
would keep that pie till he sent an officer for it; to which 
she replied that she would. 

"That evening, after the camping ground had been 



42 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



selected, the various regiments were notified that there 
would be a grand parade at half past six, for orders. 
Officers would see that their men all turned out, &c. 

"In five minutes the camp was in a perfect uproar, and 
filled with all sorts of rumors. Some thought the enemy 
were upon them, it being so unusual to have parades when 
on a march. 

u At half past six the parade was formed, ten columns 
deep, and nearly a quarter of a mile in length. 

" After the usual routine of ceremonies the acting 
assistant adjutant-general read the following order : 

ft 1 HEADQUARTERS, ARMY IN THE FIELD. 
' : ' Special Order, No. . 

" ' Lieutenant Wickfield, of the — . — Indiana cavalry, having on this 
day eaten everything in Mrs. Selvidge's house, at the crossing of the 
Ironton and Pocahontas and Black River and Cape Girardeau roads, 
except one pumpkin pie, Lieutenant Wickfield is hereby ordered to 
return with an escort of one hundred cavalry, and eat that pie also. 

U <U. S. Grant, 
M { Brigadier-Ofeneral Commanding.' " 

Grant's orders were law, and no soldier ever attempted 
to evade them. At 7 o'clock the lieutenant filed out of 
camp with his hundred men, amid the cheers of the entire 
army. The escort concurred in stating that he devoured 
the whole of the pie, and seemed to relish it. 

The next mark of confidence in him hy the Gov- 
ernment, and of advancing greatness, was his appointment 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



43 



to the important post of Cairo. This town, you will 
notice, lies upon a point of low land on the Mississippi 
shore, in the State of Illinois. The country around it is 
called " Egypt." Its position gave it great value to the 
Union cause. It guarded the mouth of the Ohio River, 
and was the key to the waters above. Here supplies, and 
all the means of carrying on the war in that vast region, 
could.be received. When General Grant made his head- 
quarters at Cairo, with General McClernand's brigade added 
to his troops, his department of command extended along 
the shores of the Mississippi as far as Cape Girardeau. He 
now had a field of action large enough to reveal his 
strength, and develop his fine qualities of generalship. 
At this early stage of the rebellion, Kentucky tried to 
stand alone — i. e., to be neutral ; neither loyal to the Stars 
and Stripes, nor under the flag of secession. It seems 
ridiculous as well as shamefully wrong, when we think of 
so absurd a position. The rebels were the first to make it 
impossible. They did not care nor try to find and keep 
the boundary between Tennessee and Kentucky ; but, 
whenever convenient, crossed over and helped themselves 
to whatever would aid their cause. 

The towns of Columbus and Hickman, situated on the 
Mississippi River, within the limits of Kentucky, were 
entered and fortified. Bowling Green, on the Big Barren 
River, a tributary of Green River, and at the head of 
navigation, one hundred and forty-five miles from Frank- 
fort, was also seized. 



44 



LIFE OF GEXEEAL GRANT, 



General Grant heard of these aggressions, and con- 
cluded it was his turn and time to play at the same 
game. September 6, 1861, he sent a body of troops in 
steamers, quietly clown the river to Paducah, a town at the 
mouth of the Tennessee, which, from the very location, was 
a post highly valued. Nineteen days later, he repeated 
the bold action, by despatching a force to Smithland, at 
the mouth of the Cumberland. Thus you will readily per- 
ceive, that he not only followed up closely the policy of 
the rebels, but gained power by blockading the rivers 
which opened channels of trade into their confederacy. 
Bread, arms, and other supplies were cut off, which hither- 
to had floated over those streams undisturbed. These 
points also became tributary to his army operations, and 
aided materially in driving out the guerillas on the Ohio 
River below them. 

The real insincerity of Kentucky then, and the wicked- 
ness of betraying her high trust, was seen in the flaunt- 
ing flags of secession flying in the breeze over Paducah, 
when the Union forces marched into its streets. These 
banners were designed to welcome the troops of trea- 
son, who were advancing four thousand strong, and ex- 
pected soon, instead of our own, by the inhabitants. 

When we speak of Kentucky, we mean the State in 
its relation to the Government, and not of all the people 
living in it. For, from the beginning of the terrible rebel- 
lion, very many citizens were loyal to the old flag ; and soon 
as it was borne along the streets, upheld by gleaming bay- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



45 



onets and followed by cannon, they rose, like Roderick 
Dim's men, in Sir "Walter Scott's beautiful story, " The 
Lady of the Lake," out of the forest brakes, from their con- 
cealment, and with shouts of joy hailed the " Star-spangled 
Banner." General Grant, soon as he had gained complete 
possession, leaving open no communication with the enemy, 
issued a proclamation, remarkable for calm and prudent 
tone, designed to encourage the true-hearted people, and 
disarm the excited and misguided subjects of Jeff. Davis — 
the great defender and bloody advocate of rebellion, seces- 
sion, and American slavery. Here is the famous procla- 
mation : 

Paducah, Ky., September 6, 1861. 
To the Citizens of Paducah : I am come among you, not as an 
enemy, but as your fellow citizen. Not to maltreat you, nor annoy 
you, but to respect and enforce the rights of all loyal citizens. An 
enemy in rebellion against our common Government has taken pos- 
session of, and planted his guns upon the soil of Kentucky, and fired 
upon you. Columbus and Hickman are in his hands. He is moving 
upon your city. I am here to defend you against this enemy, to assist 
the authority and sovereignty of your Government. / have nothing 
to do with opinions, and shall deal only with armed rebellion, and its 
aiders and abettors. You can pursue your usual avocations without 
fear. The strong arm of the Government is here to protect its 
friends and punish its enemies. Whenever it is manifest that you 
are able to defend yourselves, and maintain the authority of the Gov- 
ernment, and protect the rights of loyal citizens, I shall withdraw the 
forces under my command. U. S. Grant, 

Brigadier-General Commanding. 



46 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Ill keeping with the plain, noble words of the com- 
mander, was his appearance at headquarters in camp at 
Cairo. Had you been sent to look for him, you might 
have believed that officer with dashing uniform, whose 
gilt buttons and shoulderstraps shone in the sunlight, and 
whose air was that of conscious power, to be our hero. 
But you would have to look again ; and, passing by all the 
showy generals, colonels, and captains, fix the eye on 
that still, plain man, whose clothes are scarcely better 
than those of a common soldier, with an unadorned black 
and bruised felt hat on his head, smoking, with a thought- 
fully careless air, a cigar. I wish we could leave out the 
cigar ; smoking, and chewing tobacco is condemned by all 
sensible persons, even those who have the habit, as nearly 
always useless, if not injurious. Still, good men in early 
life acquire a taste for the weed, and then it is hard to give 
it up. General Grant belongs to this class, we must allow. 
Some allusion was made, one day, to General Grant's 
" stove-pipe " hat, and his constant companion, a cigar, in 
a sarcastic tone ; when an enthusiastic friend wittily re- 
plied : " Such a bright stove-pipe as Grant should be ex- 
cused for smoMngT 



CHAPTER VI. 



Columnus— Exchange of Prisoners— Battles— General Grant writes to his 
Father — Cares for the "Wounded— A New Department of Command — 
Prepares for a Grand Movement upon the Enemy— His Strategy— Issues 
Orders— The Advance. 

OLUMBUS, eighteen miles below, was an im- 
portant position, from which the movement on 
Paducah was made by the rebels. So the Gen- 
eral thought he would pay the enemy a visit 
there. But just as he was getting ready with 
troops to do so, the Government demanded five regi- 
ments ; which left him too weak to seek, with hope of suc- 
cess, for headquarters in Columbus. Major-Gen eral Bishop 
Polk was in command there, with twenty thousand men. 
A number of prisoners of war had been taken in the skir- 
mishes of the armies ; and, about the middle of October, 
General Polk and General Grant had correspondence on 
the subject of an exchange. General Polk, in his note, 
referred to the " Confederate States ; " to which Grant 
replied : "I recognize no ' Southern Confederacy 1 myself, 
but will communicate with higher authorities for their 




48 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



views. " The hero, in a patriotic way, was decidedly 
" spunky " in the affair. Whatever became of the prison- 
ers, trusting that loyal hearts among them felt as he did, 
he would have nothing to do with a proposition which 
called on him to recognize a government founded on treason. 
While this was transpiring, Brigadier-General Jeff. Thomp- 
son was advancing northward in Missouri. General Grant 
had not given him permission to do so. and immediately 
determined to apprise him of the fact. He ordered a part 
of his forces under Colonel Plummer, stationed at Cape 
Girardeau, Mo., to march forward to Fredericktown, and, 
joined by Colonel Caiiin. advancing from another direc- 
tion, cross the rebel chieftain's path. 

The mild, soft morning of October 21st brought the 
time of meeting in battle. Thompson had three thou- 
sand five hundred men, who fought bravely ; but they 
were compelled to yield to Yankee bullets and steel. It is 
true, our force was superior by a few hundred troops. 
For two hours the contest lasted, followed the next day 
with a pursuit of the enemy twenty-two miles. General 
Grant's reply to Colonel Plummer's despatch, conveying 
tidings of victory, reveals his kind and noble nature. 
After congratulating the brave troops on the courage and 
cheerful submission to hardships with which they were 
Trilling; u to meet their rebellious brethren, even at o;reat 
odds," he adds : " Our loss, small as it was, is to be 
regretted ; but the friends and relations of those who fell 
can congratulate themselves in the midst of their affliction, 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



49 



that they fell in maintaining the cause of constitutional 
freedom, and the integrity of a flag erected in the first 
instance, at a sacrifice of many of the noblest lives that 
ever graced a nation." 

Colonel Plummer took forty-two prisoners, an iron 
twelve-pounder, and other arms, with a number of horses. 
It was also discovered that Confederate forces sent from 
Columbus to cut off Colonel Oglesby, who had gone to 
prevent a junction of General Price with General Thomp- 
son, were concentrating at Belmont. General Grant re- 
solved to go himself and see what they were trying to do. 
He gave General McClernand command of a brigade, and 
led another himself. The troops marched from Cairo 
November 6th, 1861, and were soon crowding the river 
steamers. The sun was high when they landed, the next 
day, at Belmont. Forming immediately into line of bat- 
tle, they moved on the rebel works, commanded by Gen- 
eral Cheatham. The dauntless Union forces marched 
forward toward the camp. Between it and them was an 
abatis of twenty acres of fallen timber ; i. e., the trees so 
laid and pointed as to make it difficult as possible to get 
over or through them. Onward pressed the troops into 
the formidable defence, under a deadly storm of bullets and 
enormous shells, which came shrieking from the guns at 
Columbus, over their heads. Down went General Grant's 
horse under him, while a rifle ball struck General McCler- 
nand, but was turned from its fatal mission by the pistol 
in his holster. Winding among stumps and creeping 
4 



SO 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



through boughs, the brave three thousand reached the camp, 
and, with a wild, exultant shout, they charged home, and 
sent the seven thousand rebels, or more, staggering toward 
Columbus. The Union forces swept into the enemy's 
camp, and through it : and, taking the battery of twelve 
guns, burned the baggage, leaving only smoking ruins 
behind. But just when victory seemed folding its wings 
on their banners, reenforcements came over from Columbus 
and Hickman, and turned the tide of battle. Our troops 
retired to the transports, under the protecting fire of the 
gunboats. 

General Fremont, then at the head of the department 
in which the field of conflict lay, about this time was 
superseded by General Hunter. 

It was a brilliant affair. When General Halleck 
scanned the battle with his fine military appreciation, he 
said : " Grant will do to trust an army with." 

While the rebels lost, in killed and wounded, two 
thousand eight hundred, General Grant lost, in ah, less 
than six hundred. Of the cannon taken, two were cap- 
tured from us at Bull Run. 

Extracts from a letter General Grant wrote to his 
father, whom he did not forget in his absorbing work on 
the war .plains, will interest the reader. It bears the 
date of October 8th, 1862 : 

" I can say, with great gratification, that every colonel, 
without a single exception, set an example to their com- 
mands that inspired a confidence that will always insure 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 



51 



victory when there is the slightest possibility of gaining 
one. I feel truly proud to command such men. 

" From here we fought our way from tree to tree 
through the woods to Belmont, about two and a half 
miles, the enemy contesting every foot of ground. Here 
the enemy had strengthened their position by felling the 
trees for two or three hundred yards, and sharpening 
their limbs, making a sort of abatis. Our men charged 
through, making the victory complete, giving us possession 
of their camp and garrison equipage, artillery, and every- 
thing else. 

" ~We got a great many prisoners. The majority, 
however, succeeded in orettins: aboard their steamers and 
pushing across the river. We burned everything pos- 
sible, and started back, having accomplished all that we 
went for, and even more. Belmont is entirely covered 
by the batteries from Columbus, and is worth nothing as 
a military position — cannot be held without Columbus. 

" The object of the expedition was to prevent the 
enemy from sending a force into Missouri to cut off troops 
I had sent there for a special purpose, and to prevent re- 
enforcing Price. 

" Besides being well fortified at Columbus, their num- 
ber far exceeded ours, and it would have been folly to 
have attacked them. "We found the Confederates well' 
armed, and brave. On our return, stragglers, thM had 
been left iu our rear (now front), fired into us, ana 3 more 
recrosseci the river and gave us battle for a full mile, and 
afterward at the boats, when we were embarking:. 



52 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" There was no hasty retreating or running away. 
Taking into account the object of the expedition, the 
victory was complete. It has given us confidence in the 
officers and men of this command, that will enable us to 
lead them in any future engagement without fear of the 
result. General McClernand (who, by the way, acted 
with great coolness and courage throughout, and proved 
that he is a soldier as well as a statesman) and myself 
each had our horses shot under us. Most of the field 
officers met with the same loss, besides nearly one third 
of them being themselves killed or wounded. As near as 
I can ascertain, our loss was about two hundred and fifty 
killed, wounded, and missing.' , 

Soon as the brigades returned to Cairo, the General 
expressed to them his delight in their heroism, referring to 
his Mexican campaigns for the first and only time, so far 
as we know : 

Headquarters, District of Southeast Missouri, ) 
Cairo, November 8, 1861. $ 
The General commanding this military district returns his thanks 
to the troops under his command at the battle of Belmont on yes- 
terday. 

It has been his fortune to have been in all the battles fought in 
Mexico by Generals Scott and Taylor, save Buena Vista, and he 
never saw one more hotly contested, or where troops behaved with 
more gallantry. 

Suci courage will insure victory wherever our flag may be borne 
and projected by such a class of men. To the brave men who fell, 
the sympathy of the country is due, and will be manifested in a man- 
ner unmistakable. 

U. S. Grant, Brig.-Gen. Commanding. 



LIFE OF GENEEAL GRANT. 



55 



But the noble leader in the strife did not forget that 
there was a third class of men, besides the living in the 
ranks and the dead which had left them — the wounded in 
the hands of the enemy. "When, after the struggle, Gen- 
eral Grant, under a flag of truce, sent a detachment to 
bury the dead and remove the wounded, they heard the 
song of " The Star-spangled Banner " rising on the still 
air. Following the sound, they discovered under a tree 
a warrior with both legs mangled, from whose feverish 
lips the national anthem rang out over the gory plain. 
Of such material was the chieftain's army made. 

Another incident strikingly illustrated a mournful pe- 
culiarity of the war — near relatives and friends fighting 
against each other. Captain Brooks, of the Twenty- 
seventh Illinois, came against a corpse. Looking at the 
dead surgeon, he recognized his own brother, who, he 
knew, was in the rebel army, but had no intimation where 
he was serving the cause of treason. 

The rebels had not the means then in our power to 
care for even their own suffering troops on the red and 
furrowed field. General Grant sent a message to General 
Polk, requesting permission to have all these helpless 
soldiers taken from the field, and provided with medical 
treatment and proper attention. General Polk, replied 
that they were provided for, and his Government required 
him to place all prisoners at the disposal of the Secretary 
of War. 

Four days later— November 12th — General Grant 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



sent to the Government an account of the Belmont fight. 
In this he says : 

" The balance of my forces, with the exception of the 
reserve, was then thrown forward — all as skirmishers — and 
the enemy driven foot by foot, and from tree to tree, back 
to their encampment on the river bank, a distance of two 
miles. Here they had strengthened their position by fell- 
ing the timber for several hundred yards around their 
camp, and making a sort of abatis. Our men charged 
through this, driving the enemy over the bank into their 
transports in quick time, leaving us in possession of every- 
thing not exceedingly portable. Belmont is on low 
ground, and every foot of it is commanded by the guns' 
on the opposite shore, and, of course, could not be held 
for a single hour after the enemy "became aware of the 
withdrawal of their troops. Having no wagons, I could 
not move any of the captured property ; consequently, I 
gave orders for its destruction. Their tents, blankets, fee*, 
were set on fire, and we retired, taking their artillery with 
us, two pieces being drawn by hand ; and one other, 
drawn by an inefficient team, we spiked and left in the 
woods, bringing the two only to this place. Before get- 
ting fairly under way, the enemy made his appearance 
again, and attempted to surround us. Our troops were 
not in the least discouraged, bat charged on the enemy 
again, and defeated him. Our loss was about eightv-four 
killed, one hundred and fifty wounded — manv of them 
slightly — and about an equal number missing. Nearly all 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



55 



the missing were from the Iowa regiment, who behaved 
with great gallantry, and suffered more severely than any 
other of the troops." 

Early in the winter, a new order of things commenced 
in the Western army, under General Halleck, who had 
been called from California, made a major-general, and put 
in command of the Department of the West. The limits 
of the military districts were more clearly defined, and a 
more complete control given to the officer in command. 
General Grant had made his mark. General Halleck 
saw in him a splendid commander, and, after enlarging 
the district of Cairo to one of the first importance, he 
put it in charge of General Grant. Another good step 
was taken in the path of renown. The man, as the boy 
had been, was still " slow and sure " in his progress — 
noiseless and steady in his course, like the rising sun. 

The first thing to be done by the General, in his larger 
field of action, was to assign to the commanders under him 
their positions, and organize the new troops under his 
authority. These recruits were fitted for service and sent 
to Paducah, Fort Jefferson, and other points, to be ready 
for combined movements on the enemy, while the plan of 
dividing the forces in this way, would make it quite impos- 
sible for the rebels to guess correctly the number of men 
in General Grant's department. 

When, on the 10th of January, 1862, General 
McClernand landed at Fort Jefferson with his forces, 
the rebels were on hand with armed vessels. So, in 



56 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the morning, after the troops had gone ashore under 
the cover of the cannon of two gunboats, these pushed 
out into the river opposite the fort, guarding, like two 
dark sentinels, the transports which conveyed the men. 
It was a brief watch. Suddenly three armed vessels 
appeared moving directly upon the gunboats. Then, what 
a stir of preparation for a naval engagement ! " Boom ! 
boom ! " go the heavy guns of the enemy ; and a quick 
reply of louder tone flies from the decks of the waiting 
antagonist. 

Though the rebels had three vessels to our two, after 
a brief trial of strength, the prows of the foe were turned 
toward Columbus, and ours in hot pursuit. They escaped 
only by getting under the guns of that fortress. During 
these preparations for grander movements, the enemy's 
pickets kad shot many of our own in the neighborhood of 
Cairo. My young readers know what the duty of these 
men is. Tffey are sent out in advance of the armies, to 
watch the enemy, and give notice of an advance. It is 
contrary to the rules of honorable warfare, and inhuman, 
to designedly kill them. It often happens, that random 
shot and shell destroy them. A rebel picket was found in 
a garden of the Southwest, dead, and with a rose in his 
hand, which he was plucking when the fatal messenger 
of destruction came among the flowers. 

General Grant was justly indignant at the murder of 
his soldiers, who in the cold winter time had to stand in 
the chilly air long hours, With nothing to amuse or cheer 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



57 



them but the consciousness of fidelity to the country, and 
faith in God. He issued, therefore, the following order, 
reflecting honor upon the head and heart of its author : 

Headquarters, Cairo, January 11, 1862. 

Brigadier-General Paine, Bird's Point : I understand that four 
of our pickets were shot this morning. If this is so, and appear- 
ances indicate that the assassins were citizens, not regularly organized 
in the rebel army, the whole country should be cleared out for six 
miles around, and word given that all citizens making their appear- 
ance within those limits are liable to be shot. 

To execute this, patrols should be sent out in all directions, and 
bring into camp, at Bird's Point, all citizens, together with their 
subsistence, and require them to remain, under the penalty of death 
and destruction of their property, until properly relieved. 

Let no harm befal these people, if they quietly submit ; but 
bring them in and place them in camp below the breastwork, and 
have them properly guarded. 

The intention is not to make political prisoners of these people^ 
but to cut off a dangerous class' of spies. 

This applies to all classes and conditions, age and sex. If, how- 
ever, women and children prefer other protection than we can afford 
them, they may be allowed to retire beyond the limits indicated — not 
to return until authorized. 

By order of 

U. S. Grant, Brig.-Gen. Commanding. 

A great expedition was in prospect, and perfect se- 
cresy was desirable, as intimated in the order. In three 
columns, led by Generals Paine, McClernand, and C. F. 
Smith, under General Grant, the large army of nineteen 



53 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



regiments of infantry, six of cavalry, and seven batteries 
of artillery, were to move. Their destination you will 
learn in the narrative of the vast enterprise. When this 
magnificent war machine was on the track, awaiting the 
will of the competent engineer, he gave the troops an- 
other order, which equally displays wisdom and manly 
patriotism : 

" Disgrace having been brought upon our brave fel- 
lows by the bad conduct of some of their members, show- 
ing: on all occasions, when marching through territorv 
occupied by sympathizers of the enemy, a total disregard 
of the rights of citizens, and being guilty of wanton 
destruction of private property, the General command- 
ing desires and intends to enforce a change in this re- 
sped. * * * 

" It is ordered that the severest punishment be inflicted 
upon every soldier who is guilty of taking or destroying 
private property ; and any commissioned officer guilty of 
like conduct, or of countenancing it, shall be deprived of 
his sword and expelled from the camp, not to be permitted 
to return." 

It was now just midwinter. The Western and North- 
ern homes still retained the cheerful light left by the 
" holidays ; " and the merry bells of sleighing rang along 
the streets familiar to many of the brave volunteers. In 
the moving host on the banks of the Mississippi, the 
largest proportion had no other experience than these 
pleasant pastimes amid the business labors of peaceful life. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



59 



They now look on the broad river, tilled with floating ice, 
on which they are to embark, and along the dreary roads 
of frost and mire beyond, and think of home. But no 
faltering and no complaint from " the boys," all unused to 
hardships, is seen or heard in those ranks. 

McClernand threatened Columbus, to make the enemy 
believe an attack was at hand ; while Grant sent other 
divisions around in the rear, to ascertain the enemy's' 
strength. In six days, one column marched more than 
seventy-five miles, and the cavalry force one hundred and 
forty, amid storms and through mud and water. 

The very important discovery was made by the daring 
and perilous expedition, that, between Columbus and the 
Paducah and. Maysfield Railroad lying east of it, the 
enemy's force was not large ; that Columbus itself was 
weaker than had been supposed ; and that there were 
indirect roads to that stronghold not upon any map, afford- 
ing means of attack unknown before. Indeed, that entire 
portion of Western Kentucky was open to the invasion 
of Union troops. And now the genius of the hero, in 
comprehensive, daring plans of campaign, appears. 

The Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, you notice, on 
the boundary of Kentucky, approach each other. The 
distance between them, there, is a dozen miles. On the 
eastern side of the Tennessee, the enemy had built the 
fortress, Fort Henry ; and on the western shore of the 
Cumberland is the still more formidable stronghold. Fort 
Donelson. You will see the great importance of the ram- 



60 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

parts guarding the waters, when you trace these to the 
Ohio, and remember that, were there no obstruction, a 
Union army could pass from that river to the very centre 
of the treasonable Confederacy. 

Commander Foote, of the navy, had been sent in j 
the autumn of 1861 to create and command a fleet of 
gunboats on the Mississippi. He personally superin- 
tended the naval enterprise, and had now ready for 
service seven gunboats, four of which were iron-clad. 
They were built at Cincinnati and St. Louis, then 
taken to Cairo to complete the outfit, and man them. 
General Grant issued orders, when the crews were called 
for, requesting the land officers not to interfere with the 
demand, if their men were among the volunteers. 

All this time, the troops were holding and blockading 
the ports at the mouth of the Tennessee and Cumberland 
rivers. Other forces on land and water kept up the alarm 
at Columbus, by firing on the fort. The silent, determined 
Grant, was getting thoroughly ready to make a bold push 
into Kentucky. 

To deceive the enemy, if possible, is regarded as 
lawful policy in war. I suppose, on the same ground 
that you would feel it right to defend yourself by de- 
ception from a maniac, a person frantic with passion or 
strong drink, or even a ferocious beast. To escape or 
conquer, by creating false impressions and searching out 
the designs, has always been a part of the strategy and 
management of warfare. 



CHAPTER VII. 




The G-unboats Move up the Tennessee — Delay— Open Fire upon Fort Henry 
—The Fort Surrenders—Right on to Fort Donelson— The Fleet Disabled 
— Foote Wounded— The Forces of Grant close on the Fortress — The 
Terrific Contest— The Victory— Promotion— Striking Contrasts. 

^OET HENRY was to be the first goal of the 
grand advance. The first day of February was 
the Sabbath. In imagination you may go to 
Cairo, and glance at its scenes. In the streets it 
is mud, mud, mud I Dirty people, dogs, pigs, and 
carts are mingled in ludicrous confusion. Though a mild, 
sunny day, and birds are singing, nothing else, as you 
look, reminds you of the holy time. Steamers ascend 
with soldiers on the river, and all the sights of a port in 
time of war during the week, meet you in your walks 
about the town. But hark ! the church bells toll the 
hour of worship. Sweet music amid the din and discord 
through which it floats ! Enter this church, and, among 
the many soldiers, there is the nobly true and devout 
Commodore Foote. His fleet are ordered to keep the 
Sabbath, and maintain the worship of God in the ships. 



62 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



With an army and navy led by such commanders, 
how sublime . the spectacle, and how invincible the ad- 
vance in a righteous cause I If you visit the flagship of 
the Commodore, he will show you, amid the fourteen 
heavy guns and all the strong machinery of those dark 
engines of destruction, the Sacred Place — a quiet spot, 
where those who desire may commune with God. 

It is Monday. The strange fleet, unseen before upon 
the "Western rivers, steams from Cairo with ten regiments 
of troops in accompanying steamers, and, at nightfall, 
wheels into the Tennessee. In the morning, approaching 
Fort Henry, the anchors are dropped and scouts sent 
ashore. 

" You will never take Fort Henry ! " said a woman in 
a farmhouse which they entered. 

" Oh, yes, we shall. "We have a fleet of iron-clad 
gunboats," said one. 

" Your gunboats will be blown sky-high before they 
get into the fort." 

" Ah ! How so ? " 

The question reminded the talking woman that she 
was telling secrets, and she said no more. The scouts 
informed her that she must explain, or go with them a 
prisoner. She then said : 

" Why, the river is full of torpedoes ; and they will 
blow up your gunboats." 

The intelligence was carried to the Commodore, and 
six infernal machines raked from the bottom. The plan 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



63 



was, to pour shot and shell upon the fort from the river in 
front, and drive with this storm of iron and fiery hail the 
rebels out, for General Grant to catch with his troops in 
the rear. 

It seems that Admiral Foote had suggested to General 
Grant that the roads were so bad, it would be well for the 
land force to start an hour in advance. And when the 
General expressed his confidence in the ability of the 
troops to reach the field in time, the Admiral replied, 
good-naturedly : "I shall take the fort before your forces 
get there ; " words that proved to be prophetic of the 
important result. 

On the 5th, the fleet lay before the fortress, the dark- 
mouthed ordnance waiting the gunner's hand to pour forth 
fire and hail upon it. The first plan was to invest or sur- 
round the fort, before the attack, and to secure the garri- 
son. But hearing that reinforcements were coming, at 
noon, it was decided not to wait for the troops, but that 
the Commodore should try the fight alone. The command 
flies over the fleet to open the battle. It is answered by a 
huzza, and in another moment the thunder of cannon 
shakes the decks, wrapped in smoke, and the massive iron 
hail and exploding shells falling in the fort give the garri- 
son notice that the Yankee " tars " are knocking for 
admission within the walls. For two hours Fort Henry 
rained back her storm of heavy shot, striking the flagship 
Cincinnati thirty-one times. Suddenly the tempest ceases, 
and the rebel flag comes down ; the garrison begin to 



64 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



fly. General Tilghnian, finding his retreat cut of! by the 
advancing troops of General Grant, decides upon a sur- 
render. 

He was then rowed to the Admiral's ship, and, 
standing before him, inquires what terms would be grant- 
ed. " Unconditional surrender ! " was the brave and 
patriotic reply. 

The rebel officer's answer were the words of a gentle- 
man who appreciated high qualities of character in a foe : 

lt "Well, sir, if I must surrender, It gives me pleasure- 
to surrender to so brave an officer." 

" Yon do perfectly right to surrender," added the 
heroic Foote ; " but I should not have surrendered to you 
on any condition." 

" Why so ? I do not understand you," answered 
General Tilghman, with surprise. 

' ; Because I was fully determined to capture the fort, 
or go to the bottom," was the satisfactory response of the 
gallant Admiral. 

" I thought I had you, Commodore ; but you were too 
much for me." 

" How could you fight against the old flag, General ? " 

" Well, it did come hard at first ; but if the North had 
let us alone, there would have been no trouble. They 
would not abide by the Constitution." 

The Commodore assured him the opposite of that was 
the truth, and that the South was responsible for the blood 
shed that day. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GKAXT. 



65 



Truly, u had more of this spirit been manifested in the 
early months of the war, the conflict would not hare been 
so protracted." Thousands of lives would have been 
spared, and the bow of peace would now span the heav- 
ens, had half-hearted warfare and unused victories been 
confined to those " early months." 

Soon after, General Grant arriving, the fruits of the 
conquest were handed over to him. The rebel account of 
the battle, given by General Tilghman in his despatches, 
bears fine testimony to the greatness of Grant's character, 
rising above -the mean revenge and tyranny of baser 
minds when flushed with victory : 

Fort Henry, February 9. 1862. 
Colonel TV. W. Maceall, A. A.-General, C. S. A., Bowling Green : 

Sir : Through the courtesy of Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, 
commanding Federal forces, I am permitted to communicate with 
you in relation to the result of the action between the fort under my 
command at this place, and the Federal gunboats, on yesterday. 

At eleven o'clock and forty minutes, on yesterday morning, the 
enemy engaged the fort with seven gunboats, mounting fifty-four 
guns. I promptly returned their fire, with the eleven guns from 
Fort Henry bearing on the river. The action was maintained with 
great bravery by the force under my command until ten minutes 
past two p. m. , at which time I had but four guns fit for sen-ice. At 
five minutes before two, rinding it impossible to maintain the fort, 
and wishing to spare the lives of the gallant men under my com 
mand, and on consultation with my officers, I surrendered the fort. 
Our casualties are small, The effect of our shot was severely felt by 
the enemy, whose superior and overwhelming force alone gave them 
the advantage. * * * 
5 



66 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



I communicate this result with deep regret, but feel that I per- 
formed my whole duty in the defence of my post. 

I take occasion to bear testimony to the gallantry of the officers 
and men under my command. They maintained their position with 
consummate bravery, as long as there was any hope of success. I 
also take great pleasure in acknowledging the courtesies and consid- 
eration shown by Brigadier-General U. S. Grant and Commodore 
Foote, and the officers under their command. 

I have the honor to remain, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 
Lloyd Tilghman, Brig.-Gen. C. S. A. 

Another interesting fact about this despatch is, the 
exhibition of Tilghman' s character. Deluded with the 
attractive lie of secession, he speaks of duty with the 
earnestness of an honest man in a bad cause, and also dis- 
plays the qualities of a gentleman. Doubtless there are 
many heroic, Christian officers and soldiers in the Con- 
federate army, just as there were among the British troops 
when they attempted to force on us oppressive laws. 

The prisoners were soon disposed of, and the fort gar- 
risoned by Union troops. General Grant sent to his 
enthusiastic battalions an order, welcomed with a shout, 
to march the next morning toward Donelson. The occu- 
pation of Fort Henry was only " clearing the track " for 
that powerful defence. General Floyd, Buchanan's Secre- 
tary of War, was in command of the rebel forces. Gen- 
eral Buckner commanded the men about the fort, while 
Generals Pillow and Johnson were at the head of other 
divisions. To the twenty thousand troops were added the 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



67 



fugitives from Fort Henry. General Grant's forces num- 
bered about fifteen thousand. The enemy had the great 
advantage of a thoroughly fortified position. Again, there 
was some miscalculation in regard to the time required to 
march along the winding way, over sand hills, through 
ravines, and forests ancient and dark, lying between the 
forts. The first day, the column moved four miles into 
the woods, and there, tentless, lay down on the s cold 
ground, around their crackling fires, to bivouac for the 
night. 

The pickets silently watched for signs of a lurking 
enemy. 

General Lewis Wallace was left at Fort Henry to 
keep the prize. Colonels Oglesby, Wallace, McArthur, 
and Morrison bravely led brigades of Western boys. 
Schwartz, Taylor, Dresser, and McAllister had with this 
division their fine batteries. In the second division, 
Colonel Lanman was at the head of the second brigade, 
Colonel Smith the third ; Major Corender had a regiment 
of Missouri artillery. But there was a singular body of 
troops deserving special notice — Colonel Barges' sharp- 
shooters. They were old hunters in the grand woods, and 
could pick a squirrel from a treetop far as he could be 
seen. A little tight cap covered their heads ; a knapsack 
of buffalo skin, and a powder horn, hung upon the gray 
felt uniform. Each had a shrill whistle. They came and 
went, like unearthly messengers of death, through the dim 
forest, delighted with the wild excitement and hardships 



68 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



of their weird life. The cavalry swept the country to 
see what the enemy were about. 

Such was Grant's cavalcade, moving forward in the 
light of the next morning, February 12th. 

In the afternoon, the white tents of the enemy on the 
hills in the intrenchments came in sight. After surveying 
the field of impending battle, again the soldiers slept on 
the ground, a chilly wind fanning the fires of their camp. 
But the following day was bright and mild. While yet 
the rosy beams which herald the sun glowed in the east, 
the sudden scream of a rebel shell was heard over the 
heads of Colonel Oglesby's brigade. " Hurrah ! hurrah ! " 
is the response. Every brave fellow is at his gun, or 
standing ready to hear the order to answer the foe. 
There stood sombre Donelson, frowning defiance on the 
advancing host of the Republic, with flying banners 
wheeling around the citadel of treason and anarchy. 

Soon McClernand's division defile away to the west 
and south of the fortifications, and Smith's to the north 
and west. Could you have looked from the battlements 
of Donelson, you would have beheld the Union army 
forming a great crescent, with its tips nearly to the river's 
bank above and below the fort ; thus holding the massive 
defence in the curve. The centre of the curve was not 
complete. The transports on the waters were to furnish 
the troops for this important point. The boats were not 
" on time." But the hostile armies were too near not to 
fight. Sanguinary skirmishing, and occasionally a deadly 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 69 

contest for some position outside of the ramparts, became 
the order of the day — the prelude of the awful tragedy at 
hand. 

Among the rifle pits and earthworks west of the town, 
was a redoubt, or walled defence, protecting rebel bat- 
teries. General McClernand decided to take it. The 
men from the prairies, whose field of action had been the 
furrowed plain and golden harvest land, went up without 
wavering to the volcanic centre. They reached the im- 
passable abatis. Taylor's splendid battery dashed forward 
to the rescue, but the rifle bullets of the enemy dropped 
his gunners. Colonel Birges' hunters were sent for, and 
soon stole in ambush near the lines of fire. Away sped the 
balls. Soon the rebel guns were silenced. A head, ap- 
parently, rose above the breastworks ; toward it whistled 
a bullet, piercing only a hat A shout of laughter from 
the enemy followed. " Why don't you come out of your 
old fort ? " shouted a concealed sharpshooter. " Why 
don't you come in ? " was the reply. " Oh, you are 
cowards ! " exclaimed another Union soldier. " When 
are you going to take the fort ? " came back. 

At three o'clock p. m. on the 14th, Commodore Foote 
brought up the already scarred leviathans of naval war- 
fare, and opened the assault upon the fort. In another 
moment, fire, smoke, falling shot and bursting shells cov- 
ered the fleet, and the lofty walls and grounds of Fort 
Donelson. It was a terrible scene. 

While Commodore Foote's flagship, the St. Louis, 



TO LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

was under a tempest of the massive iron hail, he said to 
the pilot, kindly : " Be calm and firm. Everything de- 
pends upon coolness now." The next moment, a sixty- 
four pound shot came hissing along the decks ; a stunning 
sound — a crash — and the pilot lay a mangled corpse at the 
Commodore's feet. The ball had crushed its way through 
the iron plating, and a fragment pierced the Admiral's 
ankle. Still, his courage and faith made him quite forgetful 
of the painful injury. Through the steering apparatus of 
this vessel and the Louisville, other heavy balls have been 
hurled, leaving them both at the mercy of the current ; 
and they were compelled to drift from the scene of action. 
In one hour and a quarter it was all over, and Fort Donel- 
son was wild with the hurrah of fancied victory. 

It was now General Grant's turn to try on the land 
side, and see what he could do. He determined to invest 
the fort, watch and wait, till the disabled gunboats were 
ready to join in the onset again. But the rebels, after a 
council of war by the generals, unexpectedly decided his 
plan of operations. On the 15th, early in the morning, a 
large body of their troops was hurled suddenly upon the 
extreme right of General Grant's encircling army. It 
seemed an auspicious moment for the cause of treason. 
The prince of Government thieves, Floyd, was as sure of 
the Union army as he was of the public property, when in 
the Cabinet of a President who was willing to be the tool 
of such traitors. Generals Pillow and Johnson were to 
hurl half of the rebel army upon McClernari : General 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



71 



Buckner was to dash, on General Wallace from another 
point, and beat his forces back on McClernand, and so 
throw the whole into hopeless confusion. 

The light of Saturday, February 15th, lay on the 
battlements of the fortress, and on the myriad tents within 
and around it. In the loyal North, but few were astir in 
the wintry air. The partially disciplined but brave volun- 
teers were startled from their sleep on the cold ground, 
to meet the mighty tide of battle. With, flying banners, 
and shouts, the hostile columns sweep down upon the 
extreme right of General Grant's encircling battalions. 

The Union ranks stand up bravely ; but there is a 
limit to the most heroic resistance, and they, fall back 
before the overwhelming force, leaving two batteries of 
artillery in the enemy's hands. Reinforcements hasten 
to the relief of our men, and then the two lines close 
in deadly combat ; both seem resolved to conquer, or be 
annihilated. The rebels yield, losing their batteries, ex- 
cepting three of the guns ; but, reenforced, they rush 
back with fiend-like yells, flanking our troops. The day 
looks dark for the Stars and Stripes. 

The worst of all is, that at this moment other Union 
regiments brought into the field mistake their brethren 
in arms for the enemy, and open fire. Great confusion, 
of course, follows. Frightened troops fly to the rear, 
tossing their guns away as they go. Among these, see' 
that officer, Gilpin-like, plunging down the road, looking 
pale and wild, crying : " We are cut to pieces ! The day 
is lost ! " 



72 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" Shut up tout head, you scoundrel I " is the blunt 
and stern reply of General Wallace. 

General Pillow telegraphed to Nashville : u On the 
honor of a soldier, the day is ours ! M 

"Whoever thought this in the ranks of the rebels, or 
feared it in our own, General Grant did not. If it were 
true that the battle was lost, he felt, as did another chief- 
tain, that " there was time to fight another." 

Generals Buckner and Pillow united their brigades, 
and again moved upon our ranks, fancying they had not 
much more fighting to do to complete the victory. The 
dead and wounded on the conquered field have been 
robbed. Flushed with success and spoils, they opened the 
terrific storm of battle hail again. Over the bloody brook, 
the piled bodies, and the mangled living, rushed the angry 
masses of armed men. The rebel forces struck at length 
the First Nebraska, whose stalwart hunters neither feared 
nor wasted fire, and the u proud waves were stayed." 
They stood wild and raging a moment ; and, failing where 
the hunters were most effective in their aim, then trem- 
bling, rolled back. 

It was noon. The chagrined Pillow began to realize 
the sentiment of Dr. Young : 

" Our morning's glory is our evening's sigh." 

Lying before the breastworks, in ambush, were Birges' 
sharpshooters. A splendid rebel marksman, whose rifle 
had slain a number of our officers, and one of these hunt- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



73 



ers, had a singular, almost a comical duel. The former, 
raising his hat above the ramparts, deceived the sharp- 
shooter, sending a loud laugh to the equally shrewd an- 
tagonist. Then a return shot passed over him. Turning 
on his back, he loaded his gun, and lay perfectly still. 
After waiting awhile, the rebel thought his ball had done 
the work. Up went his head, cap and all, that he might 
enjoy the view of his dead enemy. Crack ! " went the 
well-aimed rifle, and backward into the trenches fell the 
just now laughing rebel. 

Now look into that tent at headquarters, where our 
hero of the u timber-hauling " memory sits, without any 
shadow of despondency on his face ; whose lips, well sur- 
rounded by short, sandy hair, are compressed with his 
native inflexibility of purpose. One after another the 
subordinate officers bring in reports from the commanders. 
His lighted eye glances over the pages scarcely dry, and 
with triumph he exclaims to a member of his staff: ' ; TTe 
have them now just where we want them." His plan is 
formed. The rifle pits on the northwest angle of the fort 
must be carried, and make an approach for the batteries to 
shell it. General Smith's division, stationed there, had 
been in reserve, and could start fresh on the daring and 
awful venture. General "Wallace is ordered to drive the 
rebels, before whom he had retired, back, and assault the 
works there. 

Colonel M. L. Smith led the brigade. Eight there on 
the bloody field, with a desperate attack before them, and 



74 



LIFE OF GENERAL GKANT. 



certain death to many, the Eighth and Eleventh Missouri 
fairly quarreled for the honor of taking the front, the most 
exposed position in the assault. "What patriotic and mar- 
tial enthusiasm ! And that is the way the We stern 
"hoys " go into any great enterprise. Half-hearted ways 
of doing, they know nothing about. To the announce- 
ment of the work before them, the reply was, " Hurrah ! 
hurrah ! " and then " Forward ! " to the storming of the 
ramparts. But away in the mellow glory of the setting 
sun, in solid masses, General Smith's division advances 
over the meadow, toward the bristling rows of rifle pits. 
Along the dauntless lines of " citizen soldiery," like an 
incarnation of the daring and gallantry of the high occa- 
sion, rode the veteran, his long locks whitening to the 
"almond blossom," streaming back upon the electric air 
of that eventful evening. Another moment, the crater of 
destruction opens. Heavy shot and bursting shell make 
clean avenues through the unflinching columns. They 
close again for another harvest of death. Up and down 
that front, lifting high his cap, amid the hissing missiles 
that rend the air, gallops General Smith. " Steady ! 
steady ! " and it is steady — steady advance and steady 
slaughter. Wallace is doing his work on the right, and 
Cook upon the left. Against fallen trees, into, the thun- 
der-cloud ablaze, and raining bolts, the unshrinking bat- 
talions dash, as though they were leaping into the spray 
of a summer sea. 

Watch a moment, my young friend, that apparent 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



75 



chaos of confusion, wrapped in flame and smoke. " Hur- 
rah ! hurrah ! " Look ! the Stars and Stripes are 
waving in the farewell smile of the terrible yet glorious 
day. The blackened remnant of the assaulting columns 
stand on the heights ; while all along the Union lines 
ring the glad shouts of restored confidence and of exulta- 
tion. 

The sun goes down on a gory scene, but with the 
clear promise of victory upon his return to light the fort- 
ress piled within and around with bodies of the slain. 

The morning dawned ; and when the brave men 
looked toward the unconquered battlements, behold, a flag 
of truce was flying there ! The foe has decided to nego- 
tiate for a surrender. 

We must let " Carleton," who was there, tell, from the 
lips of a captured officer, what transpired in the fort during 
that night of repose to our wearied warriors : 

" I cannot hold my position a half hour. The Yan- 
kees can turn my flank or advance directly upon the 
breastworks," said General Buckner. 

" If you had advanced at the time agreed upon, and 
made a more vigorous attack, we should have routed the 
enemy," said General Floyd. 

"I advanced as -soon as I could, and my troops fought 
as bravely as others," was the response from General 
Buckner, a middle-aged, medium-sized man. His hair is 
iron gray. He has thin whiskers and a moustache, and 
wears a gray kersey overcoat with a great cape, and gold 



76 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

lace on the sleeves, and a black hat with a nodding black 
plume. 

" "Well, here we are, and it is useless to renew the 
attack with any hope of success. The men are exhaust- 
ed/' said General Floyd, a stout, heavy man, with thick 
lips, a large nose, evil eyes, and coarse features. 

" We can cut our way out," said Major Brown, com- 
manding the Twentieth Mississippi, a tall, black-haired, 
impetuous, fiery man. 

" Some of us might escape in that way, but the 
attempt would be attended with great slaughter," re- 
sponded General Floyd. 

" My troops are so worn out and cut to pieces and de- 
moralized, that I can't make another fight," said Buckner. 

" My troops will fight till they die ! " answered Major 
Brown, setting his teeth together. 

" It will cost the command three quarters of its pres- 
ent number to cut its way through ; and it is wrong to 
sacrifice three quarters of a commarrd to save the other 
quarter," Buckner continued. 

" Xo officer has a right to cause such a sacrifice," said 
Major Gilmer, of General Pillow's staff. 

" But we can hold out another day, and by that time 
we can get steamboats here to take us across the river," 
said General Pillow. 

" No, I can't hold my position a half hour ; and the 
Yankees will renew the attack at daybreak/' Buckner 
replied. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



77 



" Then we have got to surrender, for aught I see," 
said an officer. * 

" I won't surrender the command, neither will I be 
taken prisoner," said Floyd. He doubtless remembered 
how he had stolen public property while in office under 
Buchanan, and would rather die than to fall into the hands 
of those whom he knew would be likelv to brine; him to 
an account for his villany. 

" I don't intend to be taken prisoner," said Pillow. 

" What will you do, gentlemen ? " Buckner asked. 

" I mean to escape, and take my Virginia brigade 
with me, if I can. I shall turn over the command to 
General Pillow. I have a right to escape if I can, but I 
haven't any right to order the entire army to make a 
hopeless fight," said Floyd. 

" If you surrender it to me, I shall turn it over to 
General Buckner," said General Pillow, who was also dis- 
posed to shirk responsibility and desert the men whom he 
had induced to vote to secede from the Union and take 
up arms against their country. 

a If the command comes into my hands, I shall deem 
it my duty to surrender it. I shall not call upon the 
troops to make a useless sacrifice of life, and I will not 
desert the men who have fought so nobly," Buckner 
replied, with a bitterness which made Floyd and Pillow 
wince. 

It was past midnight. The council broke up. The 
brigade and regimental officers were astonished at the 



78 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



result. Some of them broke out into horrid cursing and 
swearing at Floyd and Pillow. • 

"It is mean I " " It is cowardly ! " " Floyd always 
was a rascal." 

"We are betrayed!" "There is treachery!" said they. 

" It is a mean trick for an officer to desert his men. 
If my troops are to be surrendered, I shall stick by them," 
said Major Brown. 

" I denounce Pillow as a coward ; and if I ever meet 
him, I'll shoot him as quick as I would a dog/' said Major 
McLain, red with rage. 

Floyd gave out that he was going to join Colonel 
Forrest, who commanded the cavalry, and thus cut his 
way out ; but there were two or three small steamboats 
at the Dover landing. He and. General Pillow jumped on 
board one of them, and then secretly marched a portion 
of the Virginia brigade on board. Other soldiers saw 
what was going on — that they were being deserted. 
They became frantic with terror and rage. ' They rushed 
on board, crowding every part of the boat. 

" Cut loose ! " shouted Floyd to the captain. 

The boats swung into the stream and moved up the 
river, leaving thousands of infuriated soldiers on the land- 
ing. So, the man who had stolen the public property, 
and who did all he could to brins; on the war, who in- 
duced thousands of poor, ignorant men to take up arms, 
deserted his post, stole away in the darkness, and left 
them to their fate. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



79 



It is not strange that a messenger appeared, bringing 
this message : 

Headquarters, Fort Doxelson, February 16, 1862. 

Sir : In consideration of all the circumstances governing the 
present situation of affairs at this station, I propose to the command- 
ing officer of the Federal forces the appointment of commissioners 
to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces and fort under my 
command, and, in that view, suggest an armistice till twelve o'clock 
to-day. 

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

S. B. Buckner, Brig.-Gen. C. S. A. 

To Brigadier-General Grant, commanding United States forces near Fort 
Donelson. 

Had the rebel General known his conqueror, he would 
never have sent such a line. Grant did not want many 
minutes to consider his reply. In place of any such pro- 
posal, the bearer's hand had the subjoined brief and com- 
prehensive note : 

Headquarters, Army in the Field, ) 
Camp near Donelson, Feb. 16, 1862. $ 

To General S. B. Buckner, Confederate Array : 

Yours of this date, proposing an armistice, and appointment of 
commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. A^o 
terms other than unconditional and immediate surrender can be 
accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works. 

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Brig.-Gen. U. S. A. Commanding. 



80 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Buckner knew, what Grant did. not, that Pillow and 
Floyd had fled the night before, leaving him alone. The 
pro ad, helpless, and chagrined Buckner was obliged to 
make the best of a very unpleasant affair. So he wrote 
this answer : 

Headquarters, Dover, Tennessee, Feb. 16, 1862. 
To Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, U. S. A. : 

Sir : The distribution of the forces under my command, incident 
to an unexpected change of commanders, and the overwhelming 
force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant 
success of the Confederate arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous 
and un chivalrous terms which you propose. 

I am, sir, your very obedient servant, 

S. B. Buckner, Brig.-Gen. C. S. A. 

And thus fell into the hands of General Grant and his 
army, the whole of the forces that garrisoned the works 
of Forts Henry and Donelson, with the exception of one 
small brigade of rebel troops, which escaped during the 
night with Generals Floyd and Pillow. 

No pen can describe the delirium of joy, when the 
shattered columns of freedom marched with music and 
banners into the abandoned fortress. Men torn with frag- 
ments of iron forgot their pain, and hurrahed for the flag 
over them. 

The rebel loss in the surrender of Fort Henry, was the 
commander, General Tilghman, his staff, and about sixty 
men, the rest of the garrison haying moved to support the 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



81 



troops at Fort Donelson. At Fort Donelson, tlie rebels 
lost General Buckner, over thirteen thousand prisoners, 
three thousand horses, forty-eight field pieces, seventeen 
heavy guns, twenty thousand stand of arms, and a large 
quantity of commissary stores. The rebels killed in the 
last engagement were two hundred and thirty-one, and 
wounded, one thousand and seven, some of whom were 
prisoners. The Union loss was four hundred and forty-six 
killed, one thousand seven hundred and thirty-five wound- 
ed, and one hundred and fifty prisoners. The Union 
troops having to. fight in an open field, against the works 
of the rebels, accounts for the disparity of numbers in 
killed and wounded. 

Two regiments of rebel Tennesseeans, who had been 
ordered to reenforce the garrison at Fort Donelson, 
marched into that work on the day after the capitulation, 
being unaware of its capture. They went along, with 
their colors flying and their bands playing, and were 
allowed to enter the camp without any warning as to the 
character and nationality of those who held it in posses- 
sion. The whole force (one thousand four hundred and 
seventy-five men and officers) were at once captured. 

The result of this campaign was far more valuable 
than would at the first sight appear. The rebel line, at 
this particular part of the country, may be said to have 
extended from Columbus to Bowling Green, Ky., a distance 
of one hundred and twenty miles, with the extreme points 
of each wing resting on those two places, which had been 
6 



82 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



strongly fortified. The reduction of Forts Henry and 
Donelson, and the opening of the rivers at this point, 
broke the centre or backbone of this whole line, and, as a 
natural consequence, the wings had to fall. In a few days 
after, both Bowling Green and Columbus were in the pos- 
session of the Union troops, the rebels having evacuated 
those defences. 

The victory was telegraphed to Washington in the 
following words : 

Cairo, February 17, 1862. 

To Major-General McClellan : 

The Union flag, floats over Fort Donelson. The Carondelet, 
Captain Walke, brings the glorious intelligence. 

The fort surrendered at nine o'clock yesterday (Sunday) morning. 
General Buekner and about fifteen thousand prisoners, and a large 
amount of materiel of war, are the trophies of the victory. Loss 
heavy on both sides. 

Floyd, the thief, stole away during the night previous, with five 
thousand men, and is denounced by the rebels as a traitor. I am 
happy to inform you that Flag-Officer Foote, though suffering with 
his foot, with the noble characteristic of our navy, notwithstanding 
his disability, will take up immediately two gunboats, and, with the 
eight mortar boats which he will overtake, will make an immediate 
attack on Clarksville, if the state of the weather will permit. We 
are now firing a national salute from Fort Cairo, General Grant's late 
post, in honor of the glorious achievement. 

[Signed] Geo. TV. CuLiof, 

Brig.-G-en. Vols, and IT. S. A. and Chief of Staff and Engineers. 



To the dispatch was added these patriotic words : 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



33 



" The United States flag now waves over Tennessee 
It shall never be removed." 

The victory was attended with displays of valor un- 
rivalled in the war fields of the world. Oh, how those 
volunteers of the "West breasted the wasting fire, and 
went down in ranks, hailing, with dying shout and glance, 
the starry flag ! In the Ninth Illinois regiment, a soldier 
received a shot through his arm. The wound was dressed, 
and again he hastened to his place in the ranks. Soon 
after, a ball entered his thigh, and he fell. His brave 
associates offered him help. " No," he replied ; "I think 
I can get along alone." Away he staggered, leaning on 
his gun, through the iron and leaden hail, found a surgeon, 
who did his work, and gave the brave refreshment. He 
rose, and saying, " I feel pretty well ; I must go into the 
fight again," he joined his comrades. He stooped to point 
his gun ; a bullet pierced his neck, and went downward 
into his body. The next moment, balls riddled his head, 
and the mangled hero fell in death. Such were the war- 
riors, who, thinking not of fame or life, lay down under 
the dear old flag waving on the battered walls of Donel- 
son. 

The magnificent conquest sent a thrill of joy over the 
nation. Thousands of cannon in the peaceful towns of 
the North thundered forth the rejoicing, and banners' 
floated over almost every loyal house. 

Our modest victor, in the successful performance of a 
/reat duty to the country he loved better than life, took 



S4 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



another stride in the rapid march of fame. He was made 
Major-General of Volunteers, dating from the day of the 
fort's surrender, February 16. 1862. 

Xo one would suspect, from the manner of General 
Grant, amid these exciting events and clustering honors, 
the echoing salutes and hurrahs of the soldiery and the 
people, that he was the hero and object of them all. 
Unostentatious, " calm as a clock,'' he kept time to the 
" drum-beat of duty," unheeding the storm of conflict, or 
the sunshine of triumph around him. 

Let us take a glimpse of scenes apart from the hero 
and the strife. A friend, who went to the fort after the 
victory, in behalf of the Christian Commission — one of 
the noblest enterprises called out by the war, blessing the 
embattled hosts in its care for them physically and spirit- 
ually — related two striking incidents. He visited a hos- 
pital steamer, and found, not far apart, fatally wounded, a 
religious and. a profane young man. The former was 
ready to die under the old flag, with a banner seen only 
by faith, bearing the "Star of Bethlehem," and the 
il stripes by which we are healed " hying over him. The 
other said : U I have never prayed. And do you think, 
after such a life, I will now ask ibr mercy ? Never ! I 
will face the music." And soon he also died. 

Going to the plains of death, he saw a soldier half 
buried in the snowy mud, lying on his back, with a Testa- 
ment, which had fallen from the side pocket of his coat, 
on the breast. Farther on, he came against a corpse, 



LIFE OF GENERAL GrBANT. 



85 



from the pocket of whose coat a pack of cards had 
dropped, and were scattered over it, and on the ground. 
"What instructive contrasts along the track of unpitying 
war ! 

In the Atlantic Monthly appeared the following fine 
little poem, commemorative of the costly yet magnificent 
victory : 

" gales, that dash the Atlantic's swell 
Along our rocky shores, 
Whose thunders diapason well 
Xew England's glad hurrahs ; 

" Bear to the prairies of the West 
The echoes of our joy, 
The prayer that springs in every breast — 
4 God bless thee, Illinois ! ' 

44 Oh, awful hours, when grape and shell 
Tore through the unflinching line ! 
' Stand firm ! Remove the men who fell ! 
Close up, and wait the sign ! 1 

" It came at last : { Now, lads, the steel ! ' 

The rushing hosts deploy ; 
1 Charge, boys ! ' The broken traitors reel ; 
Hurrah for Ulinois ! 

" In vain thy rampart, Donelson, 
The living torrent bars ; 
It leaps the wall — the fort is won— 
Up go the Stripes and Stars. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" Thy proudest mother's eyelids fill, 
As dares her gallant boy, 
And Plymouth Rock and Bunker Hill 
Yearn to thee, Illinois." 



CHAPTER VIII. 



The more the Hero does, the mere is he expected to do— His Kingdom 
Enlarged— Anecdote ahout his Habits— Major-G-eneral Grant 1 s First 
Work — Congratulations— Martial Movements— Xo Plundering allowed 
— Hp the River— Sword presented— Scours the Country— Moves toward 
Corinth — Preparations for Battle. 



^HE fighting yet prudent chief had brought under 
the Union flag so much territory from the mad 




rule of treason, the Government presumed he 
IS^JSy could go on " conquering and to conquer.'' 
And, accordingly, the field vras laid out for 
vaster and more difficult operations. February 14th, 
General Halleck, who vras at the head of military affairs, 
formed for Grant the new district of "West Tennessee. 
Refer to the map once more, and you will observe its 
extent. It was bounded on the south by Tennessee River 
and State line of Mississippi, and on the northwest by 
Mississippi River, far north as Cairo. He could select his 
own headquarters. Over this large region he was military 
king. That is, he had the control of affairs in his own 
hands. And you must not forget, that no monarchy is 



88 



LIFE OF GENERAL GEANT. 



more absolute than the power of martial command. The 
genius of its unquestioned sway is well expressed by the 
Roman centurion's words to Christ, nearly two thousand 
years ago : " For I am a man under authority, haying 
soldiers under me ; and I say to this man, Go, and he 
goeth ; to another, Come, and he cometh ; and to my ser- 
vant, Do this, and ' he doeth it." This power ivill be 
abused by bad men. A poor sick soldier carried the 
certificate of his inability to serve, signed by the surgeons 
and all inferior officers, to the commander ; who, half in- 
toxicated, refused to read them, and ordered the man on 
duty. He had to obey ; but, in the effort to do so, stag- 
gered a moment, and fell dead. Such facts are too many, 
and sad enough. Power is a dangerous trust. 

It has proved to be safe in the rapidly-growing com- 
mand of General Grant. Many of the officers of the 
regular army, pleading, as an apology, the change of cli- 
mate and social scenes away from domestic life, have 
freely used stimulants. This is a deplorable habit, and 
never a protection against exposure. 

Provost-General M. P. Patrick, of the Potomac army, 
a Christian patriot and hero, who had been in Mexico with 
u Bob Lee," as he called him familiarly, and went through 
the Seminole war, assured me that only those who, with 
himself, abstained entirely from strong drink, escaped 
Southern diseases, without fleeing, in hot weather, to the 
North. * 

Some amusing incidents have occurred in connection 



LIFE OF GENERAL GEANT. 



89 



with, the stories about General Grant ; who is a thoroughly 
correct, and, many Christian friends believe, a religious 
man. About this time, several gentlemen, acting as a 
delegation, called on General Halleck, and desired his 
removal, when the following scene occurred : 

" You see, General," said the spokesman, "we have a 
number of Illinois volunteers under General Grant, and it 
is not safe that their lives should be intrusted to the care 
of a man who so constantly indulges in intoxicating 
liquors. Who knows what blunders he may commit ! " 

" Well, gentlemen," said General Halleck, " I am 
satisfied with General Grant, and I have no doubt you 
also soon will be." 

While the deputation were staying at the hotel, the 
news arrived of the capture of Fort Donelson and thirteen 
thousand prisoners. General Halleck posted the intelli- 
gence himself on the hotel bulletin ; and, as he did so, he 
remarked, loud enough for all to hear : 

"If General Grant is such a drunkard as he is re- 
ported to be, and can win such victories as these, I think 
it is my duty to issue an order, that any man found sober 
in St. Louis to-night shall be punished with fine and im- 
prisonment." 

This was ironical pleasantry, designed to silence the 
complaining gentlemen, who were evidently not as much 
afraid of intemperance, as they were of General Grant. 

" Do you know what the personal habits of General 
Grant are ? " was the interrogation addressed to one who 
had fought long under him. He answered : 



90 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" I know that lie is one of the most moderate of men 
in his desires. His purity is equal to his modesty. His 
personal "character, to my certain knowledge, is without a 
blot. He is tenderly devoted to his wife and family." 

The first official act in the wider field of his wise 
administration, was a congratulatory order. He had not 
been in haste, as an inferior, inflated mind would have 
been ; but when the calm of a new order of things came, 
he addressed his brave troops : 

Headquarters. District of "West Tennessee, } 
Fort Donelson, February 17, 1S62. $ 

The General commanding, takes great pleasure in congratulating 
the troops of this command for the triumph over rebellion gained by 
their valor, on the 13th, 14th, and 15th instant. 

For four successive nights, without shelter, during the most in- 
clement weather known in this latitude, they faced an enemy in large 
force, in a position chosen bj himself. Though strongly fortified by 
nature, all the additional safeguards suggested by science were added. 
Without a murmur this was borne, prepared at all times to receive an 
attack, and, with continuous skirmishing by day, resulting ultimately 
in forcing the enemy to surrender without condition. 

The victory achieved is not only great in the effect it will have in 
breaking down rebellion, but has secured the greatest number of 
prisoners of war ever taken in any battle on this continent. 

Fort Donelson will hereafter be marked in capitals on the map of 
our united country, and the men who fought the battle will live in 
the memory of a grateful people. 

By order, 

U. S. Grant, Brig. -Gen. Commanding. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



91 



The day before this order was issued, February 16th, 
he was made Major-General. He did not pause to enjoy 
victories, or simple authority. He followed up, with tire- 
less activity, every advantage gained. This is the only 
royal road to success anywhere in life. 

Commodore Foote's fleet was sent toward the head- 
waters of the Cumberland, and a land force to act with 
it, along the western shore. 

Three days later, Clarksville, a depot of supplies suffi- 
cient for Grant's use nearly a month, surrendered without 
a shot ; resistance was so utterly hopeless. He ordered 
the destruction of the Tennessee Iron "Works, which fur- 
nished iron plates for rebel ships ; and the torch was 
applied to the extensive buildings, making one of the 
many bonfires that blaze along the track of war. 

War is only waste, from beginning to end. The 
object of the ruin to property, is to weaken the strength 
of the foe. With all the attending loss and horrors, as 
the world is, an appeal to arms is sometimes unavoidable, 
if justice and truth are maintained. 

JUeavmg a sufficient force there to hold and use the place, 
February 20th the gunboats pushed onward toward Nash- 
ville, anticipating its conquest by the Union army. Mar- 
tial law was declared ; in other words, army rule, till the 
number of loyal citizens was large enough to maintain* 
civil law in West Tennessee. 

Major-General Grant was fully committed, in feeling 
and action, to the righteous cause of crushing the excuse- 



92 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



less rebellion. But lie hoped the South would see the 
folly and ruin of her course ; he therefore avoided all 
occasions for unjust and ungenerous complaint, whatever 
the inhumanity of his foes. How considerate and mag- 
nanimous the tone of the proclamation, " published for the 
information of the command " : 

Headquarters, Department of Missouri, i 
St. Louis, February 23. S 

The Major^General commanding this department desires to im- 
press upon all officers the importance of preserving good order and 
discipline among these troops, and the armies of the West, during 
their advance into Tennessee and the Southern States. 

Let us show to our fellow citizens of these States, that we come 
merely to crush out this rebellion, and to restore to them peace and 
the benefits of the Constitution and the Union, of which they have 
been deprived by selfish and unprincipled leaders. They have been 
told that we come to oppress and plunder. By our acts we will un- 
deceive them. We will prove to them that we come to restore, not 
violate, the Constitution and the laws. In restoring to them the glo- 
rious flag of the Union, we will assure them that they shall enjoy, 
under its folds, the same protection of life and property as in former 
days. 

Soldiers ! let no excesses on your part tarnish the glory of our 
arms ! The orders heretofore issued from this department in regard 
to pillaging, marauding, and the destruction of private property, and 
the stealing and concealment of slaves, must be strictly enforced. It 
does not belong to the military to decide upon the relation of master 
and slave. Such questions must be settled by the civil courts. Xo 
fugitive slave will, therefore, be admitted within our lines or camps, 
except when especially ordered by the General commanding. "Women 
and children, merchants, farmers, and all persons not in arms, are to 



LIFE OF GENEEAL GRANT. 



93 



be regarded as non-combatants, and are not to be molested, either in 
their persons or property. If, however, they assist and aid the 
enemy, they become belligerents, and will be treated as such. As 
they violate the laws of war, they will be made to suffer the penalties 
of such violation. 

Military stores and public property of the enemy must be surren- 
dered ; and any attempt to conceal such property by fraudulent trans- 
fer, or otherwise, will be punished. But no private property will be 
touched, unless by order of the General commanding. 

Whenever it becomes necessary, forced contributions for sup- 
plies and subsistence for our troops will be made. Such levies will 
be made as light as possible, and be so distributed as to produce no 
distress among the people. All property so taken must be receipted 
fully and accepted for as heretofore directed. 

These orders will be read at the head of every regiment, and all 
officers are commanded strictly to enforce them. 

By command of Major-General Halleck. 

W. H. McLean. Adjutant-General. 

By order of Major-General TJ. S. Grant. 

J. A. Rawlins, A. A. G. 

Then came the evacuation of Nashville by the enemy, 
and its occupation by our troops under General Buell, of 
whom a rebel officer remarked : 

" We can leave our homes, and General Buell will 
protect our slave property more vigilantly than we can do 
it ourselves." 

February 23d, General Grant accompanied Admiral 
Foote up the river to Nashville. The sail was all unlike 
bloody war ! The banks were green, the birds singing in 
the fragrant air, and bloom and verdure lay in the back- 



94 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



ground to the horizon's rim. A week had passed since 
the dead of Donelson were buried ; and the wounded were 
lying without such sights to gladden the filmy eye of the 
wasted warriors. TV hen the troops still in the ranks 
walked the streets of Nashville, no rebels were so in- 
sulting as females. General Buell could not endure it, 
even from Southern women. Look up to that handsome 
piazza, under whose shadow he is passing. The fair and 
proud owner waves a secession flag, shouting : u Hurrah 
for Jeff Davis and the Southern Confederacy ! " The 
General's horse makes " right about face," and the rider 
lifts his hat, quietly saying : " An excellent house for a 
hospital." Before the sun went down, the ambulances 
stood before the door of the mansion, and the stretchers 
passed through it. 

General Grant called on Mrs. James K. Polk, the 
widow of the former President, under whose administra- 
tion was opened the Mexican war, and the cadet com- 
menced his military career. He little dreamed then, he 
should ever call upon the widow, a rebel in a conquered 
city. 

The interview was cold and formal. She merely ex- 
pressed the hope that her husband's tomb would be the 
protection of her home and property. The United States, 
which so elevated her before almost unknown husband, she 
despised. 

The work on the Cumberland was now well done ; and 
the fleet of Commodore Foote, who, since the terrible 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



95 



scenes at Donelson, on crutches had been dragging his 
swollen, aching ankle around the ship's deck, with cheerful 
devotion to the dear flag, started up the Tennessee River. 

The voyage was often very exciting. The Union 
citizens, who from fear had been silent, came out openly, 
and, lining the banks, hailed with shouts of welcome the 
starry banner of their country. Others muttered words 
of scorn and hate, and acted more like growling demons 
than Americans. 

Finding there were not large bodies of the hostile 
troops in the region, General Grant removed his head* 
quarters from St. Louis to Fort Henry, resolved to push 
the war ships a hundred miles or more up the Tennessee. 

It is a singular fact, showing how much mean rivalry 
and disloyalty there has been in the army and at the 
North, that, soon as a general became successful, the slan- 
derous report went abroad, and efforts were made for his 
removal. But in some instances, the cause of disaffec- 
tion, if known, would have justly awakened public indig- 
nation. 

When General Grant was appointed to his command, 
he was approached by certain reporters of the press, to 
secure a place, and the compensation of it, on his staff. 
.Generals Halleck, Sherman, and C. F. Smith agreed with 
the upright Grant, that no Government funds should be 
applied to such a purpose. The " cut " made a wound, 
whose irritation was aimed at the offenders. General 
Sherman was called crazy, and General Smith a traitor. 



96 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

It was only at the special request of General Grant, that 
the Senate confirmed the nomination of General Smith, 
and he was able to retain General Sherman ; he assuring 
the Government that both were true men. 

Much of the abuse of General Grant, from time to 
time, is traceable to the same source. It is easy to give 
offence, by stern integrity, to the " hangers-on " and fol- 
lowers of an army. It is easier still, after a paper, how- 
ever obscure, has boldly assailed an officer, to send the 
evil report over the world. Good people often aid in the 
circulation of a falsehood undesignedly, because they saw 
not its beginning, and believe the periodical which start- 
ed, or gave it currency. 

At this juncture, the clamor against General Grant 
was renewed, and there was some appearance of success 
in the shameful assault upon his character and ability. 
But again the attack proved a failure. 

On the spring day of March 11th, 1862 — a season 
which, in the Southern States, is crowned with flowers 
and celebrated with sweetest song birds, at this early 
date — there was a pleasant and animating affair in Fort 
Henry. At the commander-in-chief's tent, a company of 
officers were gathered. Calling out "the hero," they pre- 
sented him with an elegant sword, to express their high 
regard and confidence. General Grant modestly accepted 
the gift, thanking the donors for their esteem and trust. 
The blade was fine burnished steel ; the handle of ivory, 
mounted with gold ; two scabbards accompanied it — one 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



07 



of richest gilt, for parade, the plainer one for service. A 
beautiful rosewood case enclosed the elegant gift ; and a 
simple inscription told the story of its presentation : 

" Presented to General IT. S. Grant, by G. U. Gra- 
ham, C. B. Lagon, C. C. Marsh, and John Cook, 1862," 

His mind was absorbed with the great interests at 
stake, and by the plans of a campaign ; and it is doubtful 
whether he thought of the merited compliment again, 
unless he happened to glance at the splendid weapon. 

Forces were immediately sent to scour the country, 
and learn the number and strength of the enemy. Not 
far from Paris, Ky., a severe fight occurred, resulting in 
the loss of more than a hundred men to the rebels, and of 
the position. To understand the exact posture of the West- 
fern warfare, you will recollect that General Grant had, in 
respect to important positions, cleared Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee of rebel occupation ; and the attention of the army 
and the country was turned toward the Mississippi River 
to its mouth. At Corinth, the enemy was strongly in- 
trenched, to guard the route southward, and seize any 
opportunity that might offer for regaining lost territory. 

Turn to the map, and you will see at once the impor- 
tance of the place; situated, as it is, at the junction of the 
Memphis and Charleston, and Mobile and Ohio Railroads, 
and lying between the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers.' 
Besides, below, on the "Father of Waters," Island No. 
10, a formidable position in the broad current, and Vicks- 
burg, a strongly fortified city, not only on the banks of 
7 



9S 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the stream, but at a great railroad junction, were across 
the path of the Northern battalions, and in the way of the 
gunboats. The rebels, therefore, did not seriously fear 
any trouble on the river, but prepared to meet the victo- 
rious foe at Corinth, and dispute his advance on the Ten- 
nessee. To cover the vast area of operations with proper 
authority, a new division of the battle field was made. 
" The Department of Mississippi " was created, including 
the valley from the western part of Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky to Kansas. At its head was General Halleck. 
General Grant had transported his troops in steamers 
down the Cumberland and up the Tennessee to Pittsburg 
Landing, which is nearly south of Paclucah and Paris, 
twenty miles from Corinth. 

Jeff. Davis had sent the popular Beauregard to the 
Western field, to meet the struggle, and arouse the friends 
of the Confederacy to aid in the crisis at hand. General 
Albert Sidney Johnston was the senior in command, but 
the former planned the battles in his own department. 
They were at Corinth. General Grant held an important 
command under General Halleck, and had his headquar- 
ters at Savannah, a little town ten miles from below Pitts- 
burg Landing. General Buell, after pursuing, with the 
Army of the Ohio, General Johnston, who retreated from 
Fort Donelson through Nashville, leisurely crossed the 
country to unite his forces with those of General Grant. 

March 15th, the troops at Savannah made a dash into 
Tennessee between Corinth and Jackson, on the road to 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



93 



Columbus, burned a bridge, and tore up the track. Tlie 
effect of the raid was to stop a long train of rebel soldiers, 
and delay the concentration at the stronghold, Corinth. 

The generals of the Confederate troops matured a bold 
and shrewd plan of attack. It was, to anticipate both 
Corinth and General Buell, and steal the march on Gen- 
eral Grant, falling on him unexpectedly and unprepared, 
" bas-gins; " his arm" and munitions of war, and seizino; 
the steamers on the river. Three miles from the river is 
Shiloh church, an old log house, with rough rafters, spaces 
between the logs once filled with clay, windows with- 
out glass, and plain boards for seats. It stands on one of 
the roads diverging from the main highway, leading from 
Pittsburg Landing to Corinth, where more than forty 
thousand rebels were organizing their grand advance on 
General Grant. 

General Van Born was expected from Arkansas with 
thirty thousand more. The petted generals of the Con- 
federacy were ready to strike. The Union troops were 
thinking only of the expected struggle at Corinth. The 
former had fifteen thousand more men than we had. The 
organization of these splendid armies may interest vou : 

Commanding General, General Albert Sidney John- 
ston. Second in command, General P. G. T. Beauregard. 
First Army Corps, Lieutenant-General L. Polk. Second 
Army Corps, Lieutenant-General Braxton Bragg. Third 
Army Corps, Lieutenant-General W. J. Hardee. Ke- 
serves, Major- General B. Crittenden. 



100 



LIFE OF GENEKAL GKANT. 



Confronting this host were the Union troops, under 

Commanding General, Major-General U. S. Grant. 
First Division, Major-General J. A. Modern and. Second 
Division, Brigadier-General W. H. L. Wallace. Third 
Division, Major- General Lewis Wallace. Fourth Divis- 
ion, Brigadier-General S. A. Hurlbut. Fifth Division, 
Brigadier-General W. T. Sherman. 

The enemy intended to surprise them by a rapid 
march, at early dawn on Saturday. General Grant 
passed daily between his headquarters and the Landing. 

On the mild evening of April 2d, 1862, pickets were 
fired upon on the Corinth road, and a dash was made 
through a forest, capturing several of our men. Still, our 
officers thought the enemy were only making a reconnois- 
sance ; just sending up a few troops to inquire after our 
condition. 

But General Grant's fears were excited. He suspected 
an attack, and returned, after he had gone for the night to 
Savannah, and went out himself as a scout. But no signs 
of battle appearing, he again started for his headquarters, 
leaving an order to fire a signal gun if there were ap- 
pearances of battle. Meanwhile, General Johnston issued 
a stirring address to his troops : 

Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi : 

I have put you in motion to offer battle to the invaders of your 
country, with the resolution and discipline and valor becoming men, 
fighting, as you are, for all worth living er dying for. Tou can but 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



101 



march to a decisive victory over agrarian mercenaries, sent to subju- 
gate and despoil you of your liberties, property, and honor. 

Eemember the precious stake involved ; remember the depend- 
ence of your mothers, your wives, your sisters, and your children, on 
the result. Remember the fair, broad, abounding lands, the happy 
homes, that will be desolated by your defeat. The eyes and hopes 
of eight million people rest upon you. You are expected to show 
yourselves worthy of your valor and courage, worthy of the women 
of the South, whose noble devotion in this war has never been ex- 
ceeded in any time. With such incentives to brave deeds, and with 
trust that God is with us, your general will lead you confidently to 
the combat, assured of success. 

By order of General A. S. Johnston, Commanding. 

Like Satan in Paradise, a traitor anywhere can be elo- 
quent in his crime, if he have genius and culture ; and 
more melancholy than insanity is such a spectacle of per- 
verted powers. 



CHAPTER 



IX. 



Saturday Xight— General Grant a Scout— The Signals of Battle— The Com- 
bat Opens— The Scenes of Carnage — The Critical Eour — The Heroic 
Onset— The Victory— General Grant's Bravery— The Good News in 
Xew York and Washington — A Speech in favor of Grant, -vrho ie as- 
sailed—Scenes on the Battle Field of Shiloh. 

JHE position of affairs, Saturday night, was un- 

^CID an ^ °^ ner * n ^ e p ro c ress °* the Trar - 

'^-^ There was certainly the appearance of vigilance 
in our army. But the divisions were scattered ; 
the Commanding General was at Savannah, ten 
miles from the threatened point, and Buell twenty miles 
away. Rebel sympathizers in the region had thoroughly 
posted the enemy, whose superior force had, it would 
seem, every possible advantage. And you must recollect, 
that nothing excepting the picket firing and light skirmish- 
ing changed at all the force of the manv considerations 
which pointed to Corinth, the enemy's stronghold, as the 
battle field. 

General Grant, we have seen, personally reconnoitred, 
to discover, if there were any, the indications that the 
rebels had advanced. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



103 



The beautiful Sabbath dawned. The foe, whose 
knowledge of our strength and position, and whose 
secrecy had favored the enthusiastic expectation of an- 
nihilating General Grant's forces, was in striking distance, 
moving like shadows through the twilight of the forest 
toward the dreaming battalions of the Eepublic. They 
had four lines, one behind the other ; General Hardee led ; 
next came General Bragg, then Bishop Polk, and, lastly, 
General Breckinridge's reserves. On they sweep. Sleep- 
ing soldiers in the tents die before the flying bullets. 
They bend in a semicircle round General Prentiss, whose 
shouts, " Don't give way ! Stand firm ! " are in vain. 

But where is General Grant ? " Boom ! boom ! " 
came the sound of the signal gun he had ordered if an 
attack occurred. He instantly ordered his horses, and the 
train ready. He sent a messenger to General Buell, ten 
miles away ; and, in an hour and a quarter, was at the 
head of the army. The noble Sherman had already rid- 
den with the speed of the wind over the field of chaotic 
strife, and stemmed the tide of disaster. 

I shall not attempt to give you the exact aspect of the 
field, but the general result, especially General Grant's 
part in the fortunes of the day. 

He found the fresh troops of Prentiss routed. "In- 
deed, the entire front was broken in, and crushed back a 
mile. The mad, proud surges of rebellion, after carrying 
on their crest wrecks of Prentiss's, and then McClernand's 
command, dashed against that of "Wallace. A shell cut 



104 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



open General Johnston's thigh, and he was borne to the 
rear to bleed to death, while the terrible blow was con- 
cealed from his troops. 

All the while, General Grant was breasting the wild 
tumult of panic and invasion, causing the arrest of a 
dozen frightened field officers, who were flying, and cry- 
ing, " We are whipped ! Let every man who can, save 
himself ! " With General Sherman to second every 
wisely-ordered movement, he held and reorganized the 
tumultuous masses of soldiery for ten long hours of 
bloody carnage. 

At length there is a chance for the gunboats on the 
river, and their globes of iron and imprisoned fire go 
shrieking, bursting, up the ravine clown which General 
Bragg's forces move, by order of Beauregard, to drive the 
broken columns of our army into the river. Destruction 
rides upon the awful storm of batteries protected by, and 
acting in concert with the boats. Said Colonel Fagan, 
of an Arkansas brigade : 

" Three different times did we go into the 1 Valley of 
Death,' and as often were forced back by overwhelming 
numbers, intrenched in a strong position. That all was 
done that possibly could be done, the heaps of killed and 
wounded left there give ample evidence." 

About noon, General Buell reached the ground in 
advance of his columns. He asked General Grant what 
preparations he had made for retreat in case of defeat. 

" I am not going to be defeated," replied the iron man. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



105 



" Such an event is possible," added Buell ; " and it is 
the duty of a prudent general to provide for such a con- 
tingency." 

General Grant pointed to the transports, quietly ask- 
ing : 

" Don't you see those boats ? " 

u Yes ; but they will not carry more than ten thou- 
sand, and we have thirty thousand." 

u Well, ten thousand are more than I intend to retreat 
with," replied General Grant. General Buell evidently 
anticipated defeat. 

"When the sun hung low in the sky of that Sabbath 
day, he sent his beams aslant through the murky atmos- 
phere, and along the ghastly heaps of the fallen. " We 
shall hold them yet," General Grant had said, even before 
any besides himself believed it. Yes, that fading sunlight 
has morning splendor in its farewell, to his eye. What- 
ever others may have thought then, or still believe, Gen- 
eral Grant expected to come unconqaered out of the dire 
confusion. 

There is a commotion on the bank opposite, and then 
a shout. General Buell is in sight. " Hurrah ! hurrah ! 
hurrah ! " The boats cross, and receive the timely re- 
enforcement. 

Oh, what a night was that, while we in our Northern < 
homes were reposing peacefully after the undisturbed 
worship of the hallowed time ! The shells went scream- 
ing through the sky, the terrible tokens of an * twilling 



106 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



pause in the combat. Tents and arms wore ruddy gleams 
from the forest fired by the burning fragments scat- 
tered among the dry leaves and branches. The trans- 
ports steamed back and forth on the lurid waters, convey- 
ing the troops of General Buell, which ought to have 
been within available distance three days before. 

Monday's sun streaked with herald beams the east, 
when General Grant, with General Buell's army of the 
Ohio added, anticipated Beauregard, whose intention it 
was to fall on the Union troops and gain the Landing, and 
ordered an attack. The fancied annihilator of General 
Grant was met by Nelson, on whose front the gunboats 
had driven back the rebels. For an hour the doubtful 
struggle raged, till Mendenhall's battery came up. and 
poured in the grape. Hazen also was ordered forward. 
u Into position there ! Lively, men ! " shouts Captain 
Tirrell to his battery, flying from one thundering tube of 
flame to another. " Grape and canister ! " he said to the 
officers of the twelve-pounders, and away he rode again 
to another post of peril. 

Crittenden, McCook, Rousseau, advance. A little 
later, the general and final engagement is opened. Then, 
what deeds of valor lend sanguinary glory to the awful 
plains of battle for a nation's life ! The falling banner is 
seized, before it touches the dust, from the hand of the 
slain. Colonel Ammen, the first in the broken lines from 
General Buell's transports, husks corn and feeds his noble 
steed in the tempest of shells. The maddened host of trea- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 107 

son fall like a descending avalanche on the right wing, left 
wing, and centre ; and while our ranks go down in heaps, 
theirs also fall, but without any faltering or abatement of 
fiery valor. Major Taylor's Chicago artillery cuts a ter- 
rible swath through their heavy columns ; and when the 
smoke lifts, no sign of havoc remains, save under their 
feet ; the same compact front appears. The rebels, intoxi- 
cated with whiskey in which was dissolved gunpowder, 
and recklessly confident of driving our troops into the 
Tennessee, shout along the lines, " Bull Bun ! Bull Run ! " 
And when our troops prevail, they shout back again, 
" Fort Donelson ! Fort Donelson ! " 

"Wrote an eyewitness of the terrific conflict : 
" General Grant and staff, who had been recklessly- 
riding along the lines during the entire day, amid the un- 
ceasing storm of bullets, grape, and shell, now rode from 
right to left, inciting the men to stand firm. 

" About three o'clock in the afternoon, he rode to the 
left, where the fresh regiments had been ordered, and, 
finding the rebels wavering, sent a portion of his body 
guard to the head of each of five regiments, and then 
ordered a charge across the field, himself leading ; and as 
he brandished his sword and waved them on to the crown- 
ing victory, the cannon balls were falling like hail around 
him. 

u The men followed with a shout that sounded above 
the roar and din of the artillery, and the rebels fled in dis- 



108 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



may as from a destroying avalanche, and never made 
another stand. 

" General Buell followed the retreating rebels, driving 
them in splendid style, and by half-past five o'clock the 
whole rebel army was in full retreat to Corinth, with our 
cavalry in hot pursuit, with what further result is not 
known, not having returned up to this hour.' 7 

The die was cast — the victory won — the army saved ! 
And the inspiring, resolute, heroic Grant, with the brave 
leaders about him, and General Buell's contribution of 
troops, had wrung the success from the jaws of destruction. 
He rode with his staff through the two clays' carnage with 
majestic calmness, often within range of the enemy's guns, 
and the target of their fire. A cannon ball took off 
Captain Carson's head by his side. 

The day after the victory, General Beauregard sent a 
despatch to General Grant, requesting permission to enter 
his Hues and bury the dead. He replied, that, owing to 
the warmth of the weather, the slain had been at once 
interred, and there could be no occasion for a delegation to 
come across the boundary between the ravaged armies. 

"While the South was jubilant over the false report of 
Beauregard, that lie " had a great and glorious victory," 
how sublime the Sabbath scenes which followed the bat- 
tle ! The chaplains of the noble army were leading thou- 
sands of devout soldiers in prayer and thanksgiving to 
God. 

An amusing incident made a singular interlude to the 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 109 

worship of one assembly. The chaplain was reading the 
lines, 

" Show pity, Lord • Lord, forgive ! 
Let a repenting rebel live ; " 

when a patriotic soldier, forgetting the exact meaning, 
exclaimed : 

" No, sir ; not unless they lay down their arms, every 
one of them." 

Of the Union troops, one thousand six hundred and 
fourteen were slain, seven thousand seven hundred and 
twenty-one wounded, and three thousand nine hundred 
and sixty-three missing ; making the entire loss more than 
thirteen thousand men. The enemy's loss was at least as 
great. Over twenty-five thousand husbands, fathers, and 
sons, killed, mangled, captured, and astray, is the cost of a 
single battle ! 

The gallant commander, who was himself slightly 
wounded in the ankle, commenced his despatches, giving 
the details of the conflict, in these words : 

" It becomes my duty again to report another battle, 
fought by two great armies, one contending for the best 
government ever devised, and the other for its destruc- 
tion. It is pleasant to record the success of the army 
contending for the former principle." 

The tidings went like fire in a prairie over the great 
city of New York, until the wild joy rose from half a 
million of patriotic hearts. Thence it was telegraphed to 



110 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the President, and both Houses of Congress. Mr. Colfax, 
since Speaker, asked leave to read the telegram. Amid 
cheers on every side rose the cry : " To the Clerk's 
desk ! To the Clerk's desk ! " Mr. Colfax obeyed ; and, 
in a moment, all was still as the chamber of death. Full 
and clear the glad news floated through the halls of the 
Capitol. When the last word echoed on the air, the 
breathless silence of an instant was broken by the most 
enthusiastic demonstrations of delight. A salute of one 
hundred guns was fired ; and the only faces shaded with 
gloom, were those of the mourners for u the unreturning 
brave," and of the disloyal parasites of the imperilled 
Government. The War Department, in behalf of the 
Government, thanked the hero. 

But the poisoned arrows of jealousy and hate — in 
some instances, perhaps, misapprehension — were aimed 
afresh, and with more determined opposition, at the idol 
* of the loyal people. The governors of several of the 
Western States waited on General Halleck, and asked for 
Grant's removal, urging the loss of life at Shiloh, and 
declaring him wanting in capacity and sobriety. General 
Halleck knew the hero too well to part with him, and 
placed him second in command to himself. 

Hon. E. B. Washburne, of Illinois, defended General 
Grant from the detraction of his enemies, in an eloquent 
speech on the floor of Congress. My youthful reader will 
enjoy its perusal, and desire to preserve it. The following 
are its most striking passages : 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Ill 



"I come before the House to do a great act of justice 
to a soldier in the field, and to vindicate him from the 
obloquy and misrepresentation so persistently and cruelly 
thrust before the country. I refer to a distinguished Gen- 
eral, who has recently fought the bloodiest and hardest 
battle ever fought on this continent, and won one of the 
most brilliant victories. I mean the battle of Pittsburg 
Landing, and Major-General Ulysses S. Grant. Though 
but forty years old, he has been oftener under fire, and 
been in more battles, than any other man living on this 
continent, excepting that great chieftain now reposing on 
his laurels and on the affections of his countrymen, Lieu- 
tenant-General Scott. He was in every battle in Mexico 
that was possible for any one man to be in. He has 
received the baptismal of fire. No young officer came out 
of the Mexican war with more distinction than Grant, and 
the records of the War Department bear official testimony 
to his gallant and noble deeds. He resigned in 1855, and 
afterward settled in Galena, in the district I have the 
honor to represent on this floor. 

" I came here to speak as an lilinoisian, proud of his 
noble and patriotic State ; proud of its great history now 
being made up ; proud, above all earthly things, of her 
brave soldiers, who are shedding their blood upon all the. 
battle fields of the Republic. If the laurels of Grant 
shall ever be withered, it will not be done by the Illinois 
soldiers who have followed his victorious banner. 

" But to the victory at Pittsburg Landing, which has 



112 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



called forth such a flood of denunciation upon General 
Grant. TVhen we consider the charges of bad general- 
ship, incompetency and surprise, do we not feel that 
1 even the joy of the people is cruel ' ? As to the Ques- 
tion whether there was, or not. what might be called a 
surprise, I will not argue it ; but even if there had been, 
General Grant is nowise responsible for it, for he was not 
surprised. He was at his headquarters at Savannah when 
the fight commenced. Those headquarters were estab- 
lished there, as being the most convenient point for ah 
parts of his command. Some of the troops were at 
Crump's Landing, between Savannah and Pittsburg, and 
all the new arrivals were coming to Savannah. That was 
the proper place for the headquarters of the Commanding 
General at that time. The General visited Pittsburg 
Landing and all the important points every day. The 
attack was made Sunday morning by a vastly superior 
force. In five minutes after the first firing was heard, 
General Grant and staff were on the way to the bat- 
tle field ; and, instead of not reaching the field till 
ten o'clock, or, as has been still more falsely repre- 
sented, till noon, I have a letter before me from one 
of his aids who was with him, and who says he arrived 
there at eight o'clock in the morning, and immediately 
assumed command. There he directed the movements, 
and was always on that part of the field where his pres- 
ence was most required, exposing his life, and evincing, in 
his dispositions, the genius of the greatest commanders 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



113 



"With what desperate bravery that battle of Sunday was 
fought ! what display of prowess and courage ! what 
prodigies of valor ! Our troops, less than forty thousand, 
attacked by more than eighty thousand of the picked men 
of the rebels, led by their most distinguished generals ! 

" There is no more temperate man in the army than 
General Grant. He never indulges in the use of intoxi- 
cating liquors at all. He is an example of courage, honor, 
fortitude, activity, temperance, and modesty, for he is as 
modest as he is brave and incorruptible. To the bravery 
and fortitude of Lannes, he adds the stern republican sim- 
plicity of Guvion St. Cyr. It is almost vain to hope that 
full justice will ever be done to men who have been thus 
attacked. Truth is slow upon the heels of falsehood. It 
has been well said, that 1 Falsehood will travel from Maine 
to Georgia while Truth is putting on its boots/ 

" Let no gentleman have any fears of General Grant. 
He is no candidate for the Presidency. He is no poli- 
tician. Inspired by the noblest patriotism, he only desires 
to do his whole duty to his country. When the war shall 
be over, he will return to his home, and sink the soldier in 
the simple citizen.' , 

The tribute was just and appropriate. History gives 
no account of a war in which there was so much to 
learn by the combatants, and in regard to which, in 
the command of troops, so frequent changes were made 
as in the Union army. Washington held his position at 
the head of the Revolutionary forces through all the 



114 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



struggle, and his generals were seldom removed. Used to 
politics and unused to war, we have made great mistakes, 
but are also making great progress in real knowledge and 
strength. Universal freedom and well-being will be ad- 
vanced through the nation's blood and tears. 

It is interesting and useful to leave, occasionally, the 
storm of battle, the deeds of valor, the cruelty and un- 
holy ambition, and look, as we have done, upon scenes 
which attend, and yet are apart from the contest. The 
bravest commanders often weep over these results of war, 
seldom found in the flaming bulletins of the strife. 

-It is Tuesday morning, and the wounded strewn over 
the field of Shiloh are borne away to hospitals. Among 
them is a brave, pious, and fatally wounded captain. He 
was shot through both thighs with a bullet. While car- 
ried from the ground covered with pools of water and 
blood, he skives the following narrative of the lone night, 
whose shades had just departed, and uncovered its horrors 
to the calm, sweet light : 

" While lying there, I suffered intense agony from 
thirst. I leaned my head upon my hand, and the rain 
from heaven was failing around me. In a little while a 
pool of water formed under my elbow, and I thought, if I 
could only get to that puddle, I might quench the burning 
thirst. I tried to get into a position to suck up a mouth- 
ful of muddy water, but was unable to reach within a foot 
ot it. I never felt so much the loss of any earthly bless- 
ing. By and by, night fell, and the stars shone out clear 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



115 



and beautiful above the dark field, and I began to think of 
that great God who had given His Son to die a death of 
agony for me, and that He was up there — up above the 
scene of suffering, and above these glorious stars ; and I 
felt that I was going home to meet Him, and praise Him 
there ; and I felt that I ought to praise God, even 
wounded and on the battle field. I could not help singing 
that beautiful hymn : 

' When I can read my title clear 

To mansions in the skies, 
I'll bid farewell to every fear, 
And wipe my weeping eyes.' 

And there was a Christian brother in the brush near me. 
I could not see him, but I could hear him. He took up 
the strain, and beyond him another and another caught it 
up, all over the terrible battle field of Shiloh. That night 
the echo was resounding, and we made the field of battle 
ring with hymns of praise to God." 

No commander before Grant, since time began, has 
recorded of his war plains such a -scene- — so sublime, so 
holy ! General Rousseau, the Marshal Junot of our army, 
a dashing, gallant, splendid officer, in his correspondence 
gives this touching narrative : 

" Two days after the battle of Shiloh, I walked into 
the hospital tent on the ground where the fiercest contest 
had taken place, and where many of our men, and those 
of the enemy, had fallen. The hospital was exclusively 



116 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



for the wounded rebels, and they were laid thickly around. 
Many of them were Kentuckians, of Breckinridge's com- 
mand. As I stepped into the tent and spoke to some one, 
I was addressed by a voice, the childish tone of which 
arrested my attention. 

" ' That's General Rousseau ! General, I knew your 
son Dickey. Where is Dick ? I knew him very well.' 

" Turning to him, I saw, stretched on the ground, a 
handsome boy, sixteen years of age. His face was a 
bright one, but the hectic glow and flush on the cheeks, 
his restless manner, and his gasping and catching his 
breath as he spoke, alarmed me. I knelt by his side, and 
pressed his fevered brow with my hand, and would haye 
taken the child into my arms, if I could. 

" 'And who are you, my son ? ' said L 

" 1 Why, I am Eddy McFadden, from Smithville,' 
was the reply. 4 1 knew you, General, and I knew your 
son Dick. I've played with him. Where is Dick ? ' 

" I thought of my own dear boy — of what might have 
befallen him ; that he, too, deluded by villains, might, like 
this poor boy, have been mortally wounded, among stran- 
gers, and left to die. My heart bled for the poor child ; 
my manhood gave way, and burning tears attested, in 
spite of me, my intense suffering. I asked him of his 
father. He had no father. 1 Your mother ? ' He had 
no mother. L Brothers and sisters ? ' 'I have a brother,' 
said he. 1 1 never knew what soldiering was. I was but 
a boy, and they got me off down here.' . 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



117 



u He was shot through the shoulder and Jungs. I 
asked him what he needed. He said he was cold, and the 
ground was hard. I had no tent, nor blankets ; our bag- 
gage was all in the rear, at Savannah. But I sent the 
poor boy my saddle blanket, and returned the next morn- 
ing with lemons for him and the rest ; but his brother, in 
the Second Kentucky Eegiment, had taken him oyer to 
his regiment, to nurse him. I never saw the child again. 
He died in a day or two. Peace to his ashes ! " 

What a young and beautiful victim of treasonable 
men ! What a terrible necessity is war ! 



CHAPTER X. 



Corinth the next G-oal of the Army— Getting ready to Mai ch— The 
" Grand Army of the Tennessee "—The Advance— The Siege— The Sur- 
render—The Pursuit— The captured Sheep— General Halleck's Farewell 
— Grant at Memphis— How he deals with Traitors. 

ORINTH is the ancient and scriptural name of a 
village, or small city, in Mississippi, near the 
boundary of Tennessee, which contained, be- 
fore the war, twelve hundred inhabitants. The 
low lands in which it is situated, in wet 
weather are a swamp ; in " a dry time," a plain of 
hard clay. In the background are ridges, affording ele- 
vated land for lines of defence. It has been already 
stated, that two grand railways have their junction at 
Corinth, which made it quite indispensable to the 
rebels. Here were Beauregard's fine headquarters, with 
telegraph wires running in every direction from his man- 
sion. 

A few days after the field of Shiloh was won, General 
Smith, chief of cavalry, was ordered to make a reconnois- 
sance in that direction. 

Toward Pea Ridge another survey was made. The 




LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



119 



Mississippi had been opened below Island No. 10, which 
woke np the rebel chief to the possibility of danger to his 
cause in the great Southwest. To the planters he said : 
" Apply the torch to your cotton ! " He thought, if the 
white heaps of the precious plunder were turned into bon- 
fires, it would discourage the Union troops from fighting. 
How stupid such an idea in a shrewd general — when we 
had begun a fight on purpose to dethrone, sack, and make 
an ally to liberty of " King Cotton " ! 

Reconnoitring and skirmishino- were all that was 
attempted till blooming May, the anniversary of General 
Grant's youthful soldiering in Mexico, when for the first 
time "under fire," sixteen years before. General Halleck 
was resolved to have an invincible army in the grand 
advance upon Corinth. He therefore gathered all the 
troops that could be spared in his extensive department to 
Pittsburg Landing, and called the combined forces -the 
" Grand Army of the Tennessee." This title was a 
marked honor to Grant, who had been at the head of the 
army of the Tennessee. He had command of the right 
wing ; General Buell of the centre, or Army of the Ohio ; 
and General Pope of the left wing, or Army of the Mis- 
sissippi. In the Army of the Tennessee, under General 
Grant, were twice the number of men included in either 
of the other armies. 

Beauregard was prepared for the expected encounter 
at Corinth. After a council at General Halleck's head- 
quarters, May 11th, the advance began. And now the 



120 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



vast host moved in all the grandeur of folly equipped and 
resolute legions, toward a foe prepared to dispute the 
onward march to their stronghold. 

May 17th, the first shock came. The Fifth Division 
of General Grant's army, under Sherman, met the rebels 
in a severe conflict on the road to Corinth. They had to 
fall back before the human tide, crested with fire and steel, 
that beat in successive waves upon their opposing battle 
surges. This victory is inscribed on the banner of the 
splendid division who won it, " Russell's Court House " — 
a spot crimsoned with the blood with which it was pur- 
chased. This brief contest only opened the way to the 
fortress of rebel strength. And the question was, How 
shall Corinth be taken ? It must either be by direct and 
bloody assault, or by siege ; surrounding it, and compelling 
the imprisoned army to surrender. 

_ Beauregard watched with sleepless vigilance his foe. 
He ordered troops to intrench on a ridge near Phillips's 
Creek, and oppose the Union forces. General T. Davis, 
of General Grant's army, approached the works ; then, 
feigning a retreat, drew the garrison out, when a severe 
struggle routed the enemy completely. This occurred 
May 21st; and on the 27th, General Sherman also had a 
fight with the rebels. 

Through all the clays of skirmishing, pitched battle, 
and marching, the parallels, or long lines of our brave 
men, had pushed the front nearer and nearer to Corinth. 
May 28th, General Grant pressed up in force to within 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



121 



gunshot of the fortifications, to ascertain the posture and 
power of the enemy . He was resisted, but beat back the 
rebels. 

The decisive hour has come ; all is activity and excite- 
ment. We can give you a no more vivid description of 
the stirring and awfully sublime scenes of such a crisis in 
army operations, than one found in a letter from this field 
to the Cincinnati Gazette : 

11 Regiments and artillery are placed in position, and, 
generally, the cavalry is in advance ; but when the oppo- 
sing forces are in close proximity, the infantry does the 
work. The whole front is covered by a cloud of skir- 
mishers, and then reserves formed, and then, in connection 
with the main line, they advance. For a moment, all is 
still as the grave to those in the background ; as the line 
moves on, the eye is strained in vain to follow the skir- 
mishers as they creep silently forward ; then, from some 
point of the line, a single rifle rings through the forest, 
sharp and clear, and, as if in echo, another answers it. 
In a moment more the whole line resounds with the din of 
arms. Here the fire is slow and steady, there it rattles 
with fearful rapidity ; and this, mingled with the great 
roar of the reserves as the skirmishers chance at any point 
to be driven in: and if, by reason of superior force, these 
reserves fall back to the main force, then every nook and 
corner seems full of sound. The batteries open their 
terrible voices, and their shells sing horribly while winging 
their flight, and their dull explosion speaks plainly of 



122 



LIFE OF GENERAL GEANT. 



death ; their canister and grape go crashing through the 
trees, rifles ring, the muskets roar, and the din is terrific. 
Then the slackening of the fire denotes the withdrawing 
of the one party, and the more distant picket firing that 
the work was accomplished. The silence becomes almost 
painful after such a scene as this, and no one can conceive 
of the effect who has not experienced it ; it cannot be 
described. The occasional firing of the pickets, which 
shows that the new lines are established, actually occasions 
a sense of relief. The movements of the mind under 
such circumstances are sudden and strong. It awaits with 
intense anxiety the opening of the contest ; it rises with 
the din of battle ; it sinks with the lull which follows it, 
and finds itself in fit condition to sympathize most deeply 
with the torn and bleeding: ones that are fast being borne 
to the rear. 

" "When the ground is clear, then the time for working 
parties has arrived ; and, as this is the description of a 
real scene, let me premise that the works were to reach 
through the centre of a large open farm of at least three 
hundred acres, surrounded by woods, one side of it being 
occupied by rebel pickets. These had been driven back, 
as I have described. 

" The line of the works was selected, and, at the word 
of command, three thousand men, with axes, spades, and 
picks, stepped out into the open field from their cover in 
the woods. In almost as short a time as it takes to tell it, 
the fence rails which surrounded and divided three hun- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GBAXT. 



123 



died acres into convenient farm lots were on the shoulders 
of the men, and on the way to the intended line of 
works. In a few moment* more, a long line of crib work 
stretches over the slope of the hill, as if another anaconda 
fold had been twisted around the rebels. Then, as, for a 
time, the ditches deepen, the cribs fill up, the dirt is 
packed on the outer side, the bushes and ail points of con- 
cealment are cleared from the front, and the centre 
divisions of our army had taken a long stride toward the 
rebel works. The siege guns are brought up and placed 
in commanding positions. A log house furnishes the 
hewn and seasoned timber for the platforms, and the plan- 
tation of a Southern lord has been thus speedily trans- 
formed into one of Uncle Sam's strongholds, where the 
Stars and Stripes float proudly. Thus had the whole 
army (under the immediate charge of General Grant, the 
commander in the field) worked itself up into the very 
teeth of the rebel works, and rested there on Thursday 
night, the 28th, expecting a general engagement at any 
moment. 

" Soon after daylight, on Friday morning, the army 
was startled by rapid and long-continued explosions, simi- 
lar to musketry, but much louder. The conviction flashed 
across my mind that the rebels were blowing up their 
loose ammunition, and leaving. The dense smoke arising 
in the direction of Corinth strengthened this belief, and 
soon the whole army was advancing on a grand reconnois- 
sance. The distance through the woods was short, and in 



124 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



a few minutes shouts arose from the rebel lines, which told 
that our army was in the enemy's trenches. Regiment 
after regiment pressed on, and, passing through extensive 
camps just vacated, soon reached Corinth, and found half 
of it in flames. Beauregard and Bragg had left the after- 
noon before, and the rear guard had passed out of the 
town before daylight, leaving enough stragglers to commit 
many acts of vandalism, at the expense of private prop- 
erty. They burned churches and other public buildings, 
private goods, stores, and dwellings, and choked up half 
the wells in town. In the camps immediately around the 
town, there were few evidences of hasty retreat ; but on 
the right flank, where Price and Van Dorn were en- 
camped, the destruction of baggage and stores was very 
great, showing precipitate flight. Portions of our army 
were immediately put in pursuit. 

" It seems that it was the slow and careful approach 
of General Halleck which caused the retreat. They 
would doubtless have remained, had we attacked their 
positions without first securing our rear ; but they could 
not stand a siege. Their position was a most commanding 
one, and well protected." 

General Grant's troops, under the brilliant chieftain 
Sherman, were first in the works. It had been conspicu- 
ous in the entire and triumphant progress from Shiloh, 
sustaining the heaviest blows, and bearing aloft, without 
wavering or failure, with a proud and immortal heroism, 
the banner of the Republic. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



125 



Near the "noon of night/' May 29th, the last re- 
ceding columns of treason disappear in the darkness from 
the walls of Corinth. Ten days before, General Grant 
had urged an advance upon the works, sure that the 
Union forces could a bag " the rebel army. After the 
foe had fled, General Halleck acknowledged the mis- 
take, and assured General Grant he should, thereafter, 
have his own way. The work of besieging it began 
April 30th, and the morning sun of May 30th shone on 
the deserted fortress. "What a change in a few brief 
hours has passed over the encampment ! The day before, 
you might have seen, in all the shining pageantry of war, 
among the tents dotting the arena of stern defence, and 
under Confederate banners, the busy host of rebeldom. 
Rows of cannon and mortars grimly lining the embank- 
ments ; shouts, laughter even, and dead men were there ; 
now, the " white tents have disappeared, the heavy foot- 
steps have ceased to sound, and no evidence, save the 
desolated, hard-trodden ground, and a few tent stakes, 
remain to tell the story." The victorious soldiers rush 
over the ground, searching everywhere for relics to com- 
memorate the -grand success of their arms ; one picking up 
a broken sword, another a gun, and still another a frag- 
ment of a shell, or whatever could have interest as a . 
memento of the struggle. 

The mayor of the little and fallen city immediately 
asked protection for the property of the citizens ; and, 
with prompt obedience to the orders of the commanding 



126 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRAXT. 



officer, guards stood at every door, safely keeping the 
homes of their enemies. So strangely does the "work of 
demons and of angels blend in the sulphurous atmosphere 
of warfare ! 

But look beyond the silent battlements crowned with 
Union banners, and away farther than you can discern, 
down the railway toward Mobile — why, with rapid march- 
es, sweep the lines of our heroes in saddle ? Colonel 
Elliot's cavalry are on the wing, to reach Booneville in 
time to tear up the track, and cut off the enemy's retreat. 
1 Desolation ! desolation ! " was the exclamation on 
many lips, as the troopers dashed through the once fruit- 
ful fields. They suffered for food. See those few soli- 
tary, haggard sheep wandering over the scarred and 
desert-like land. 1 Boys, after them ! " says Colonel 
Elliot. 

An odd interlude to the tragedy of war is that chase 
after the gaunt fugitives, whose masters have forsaken 
them. Jokes enliven the repast of the hungry men over 
the tough and juiceless mutton, taken in the vast slaugh- 
ter-field of humanity — unlike the Divine abundance, and 
yet u without money and without price." 

The horsemen destroyed the track, burned the depot, 
a train of cars, and a large quantity of arms, and, taking 
a different route back, reached Corinth again in safety. 
The rest of June was occupied in similar raids, till the 
enemy's power was broken in that region, and his lines 
were fifty miles from Corinth. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



m 



July 17th, General Halleck bade farewell to the troops 
of the Southwest, and went to "Washington in the high 
office of General-in-Chief of all the United States forces. 

The departure of General Halleck was followed by a 
new order of things. The " Department of West Ten- 
nessee " was created for General Grant — larger than his 
previous command. Take the map, and, beginning at 
Cairo, glance across to Donelson and Henry on the Ten- 
nessee Eiver, and up its -current to Northern Mississippi, 
and then to Memphis, of which possession had been taken 
after the surrender of Corinth, and you will have nearly 
the boundaries of his new military kingdom. Memphis, 
you notice, is on the " Father of Waters," where railroads 
meet, and, as a " a base of supplies," and a point of diver- 
gence into the enemy's country, was of great importance. 
But protected there by our arms, were traitors. They 
trafficked with the rebel army secretly, and assisted the 
enemy in every possible way. So the resolute and honor- 
able chief, who often went from Corinth, his headquarters, 
to Memphis, began to issue orders forbidding such inter- 
course with the Confederate troops. His course illus- 
trated the old fable of the farmer and the boy stealing his 
apples : the rogue cared little for words or grass ; stones 
only could bring him down. 

The first order required the word passed on letters 
found upon persons going out, from the pen of the provost- 
marshal, post-commander, or general commanding ; and 
forbidding, on penalty of imprisonment for the first 



128 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



offence, any person to cany arms or ammunition out of, 
or within the city limits. 

But the unprincipled traffic went on. The next order 
— July 9th, eleven days later — revoked all passes, unless 
the holders gave the oath of allegiance, or parole of 
honor ; L e., became loyal by their most sacred pledge, or, 
with an equally binding promise to conform to the rules 
of the department, were permitted to be at large. 

The artful, treasonable traders were active still. Then 
came the decisive blow, in the following orders, two days 
after, showing the rebels what sort of a man they had 
trifled with too long : 



The constant communication between the so-called Confederate 
army and their friends and sympathizers in the city of Memphis, 
despite the orders heretofore issued, and the efforts to enforce them, 
induced the issuing of the following order : 

The families now residing in the city of Memphis of the follow- 
ing persons, are required to move south beyond the lines within five 
days of the date hereof : 

First. All persons holding commissions in the so-called Confed- 
erate army, or who have voluntarily enlisted in said army, or who 
accompany and are connected with the same. 

Second. All persons holding office under or in the employ of the 
so-called Confederate Government. 

Third. . All persons holding State, county, or municipal offices, 
who claim allegiance to said so-called Confederate Government, and 
who have abandoned their families and gone South. 




LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



129 



Safe conduct will be given to the parties hereby required to leave, 
upon application to the Provost-Marshal of Memphis. 

By command of Major-General Grant. 

District of West Tennessee, ) 
Office of the Provost-Marshal General, L 
Memphis, Tenn., July 11, 1862. ) 
-# * * * * * * 

In order that innocent, peaceable, and well-disposed persons may 
not suffer for the bad conduct of the guilty parties coming within the 
purview of Special Order No. 14, dated July 10, 1862, they can be 
relieved from the operation of said order No. 14, by signing the fol- 
lowing parole, and producing to the Provost -Marshal General, or the 
Provost-Marshal of Memphis, satisfactory guarantees that they will 
keep the pledge therein made : 

PAROLE. 

First. I have not, since the occupation of the city of Memphis 
by the Federal army, given any aid to the so-called Confederate 
army, nor given or sent any information of the movements, strength, 
or position of the Federal army to any one connected with said Con- 
federate army. 

Second. I will not, during the occupancy of Memphis by the 
Federal army and my residing therein, oppose or conspire against the 
civil or military authority of the United States, and that I will not 
give aid, comfort, or encouragement to the so-called Confederate 
army, nor to any person cooperating therewith. 

All of which I state and pledge upon my sacred honor. 

By command of Major-General Grant. . 

Wm. g. Hillyer, Provost-Marshal General. 

And, as a warning to the guerillas who were destroy- 
ing cotton and plundering, the following order was also 
issued : 

9 



130 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Headquarters. District of West Tennessee, ^ 
Memphis, Tenn., July 3, 1862. 5 

The system of guerilla warfare now being prosecuted by some 
troops organized under authority of the so-called Southern Confed- 
eracy, and others without such authority, being so pernicious to the 
welfare of the community where it is carried on, and it being within 
the power of the community to suppress this system, it is ordered 
that, wherever loss is sustained by the Government, collections shall 
be made, by seizure of a sufficient amount of personal property, from 
persons in the immediate neighborhood sympathizing with the rebel- 
lion, to remunerate the Government for all loss and expense of the 
same. 

• - Persons acting as guerillas without organization, and without uni- 
form to distinguish them from private citizens, are not entitled to the 
treatment of prisoners of war when caught, and will not receive such 
treatment. 

By order of Major-General U. S. Grant. 

John A. Rawlins, A. A. Gr. 

The disloyal editors and speculators in conspiracy with 
the enemy at large, took their turn, as will appear in the 
annexed spicy correspondence. It is paper warfare, in 
part, but, in General Grant's hands, made the traitors 
wince, and act like honest men : 

Headquarters, District of West Tennessee. \ 
Office Provost-Marshal G-eneral, v 
Memphis, Tens.. July 1, 1862. ) 

Messrs. Wills, Bingham k Co., Proprietors of the Memphis Ava- 
lanche : 

You will suspend the further publication of your paper. The 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



131 



spirit with which it is conducted is regarded as both incendiary and 
treasonable, and its issue cannot longer be tolerated. 

This order will be strictly observed from the time of its reception. 
By command of Major-General U. S. Grant. 

Wm. S. Hillyer, Provost-Marshal General. 

Memphis, July 1, 1862. 
The Avalanche can continue by the withdrawal of the author of 
the obnoxious article under the caption of " Mischief Makers," and 
the editorial allusion to the same. 

U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

To our Patrons. — For reasons apparent from the foregoing 
order, I withdraw from the editorial management of The^ Avalanche. 
Self-respect, and the spirit of true journalism, forbid any longer 
attempt to edit a paper. I approved and endorsed the articles in 
question. Prudence forbids my saying more, and duty less, to the 
public. Jeptha Powlkes. 

U. S. Military Telegraph, Corinth, July 26, 1862. 
To Brigadier-General J. T. Quimby, Columbus, Ky. : 

General : Examine the baggage of all speculators coming South, 
and when they have specie, turn them back. If medicine and other 
contraband articles, arrest them, and confiscate the contraband arti- 
cles. Jews should receive special attention. 

[Signed] U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

Trenton, Tenn., July 29, 1862. 
General : The man who guided the rebels to the bridge that 
was burned, was hung to-day. He had taken the oath. The houses 
of four others who aided have been burned to the ground. 

[Signed] G. M. Dodge, Brigadier-General. 



132 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 



The inflexibly just and loyal commander, to secure 
from wanton waste, and obtain material aid, rented the 
deserted buildings whose owners were in rebel service, 
whether private residences or stores and manufactories, 
for and under the protection of the Government. 

He issued an order in regard to fugitive slaves, giving 
directions for their employment ; neither permitting them 
to be returned, nor enticed from the plantations. The 
only fault to be found with these last regulations, was one 
which God's providence alone could cure, by prolonging 
the war ; i. e., dealing carefully and tenderly for the mas- 
ter, with the whole question of his rights while in rebel- 
lion, and thus sustaining the system of oppression which 
hatched the scorpion-egg of treason. 

General Grant also published an order to enroll the 
" runaways " from the draft in the States to which they 
belonged, seeking a hiding place in Southern towns within 
the Union lines. There was very soon a thinning of the 
ranks of the worthless refugees. 

A specimen of a rebel letter will show you how bitter 
their hate was, and how demoniac their conduct. It is 
addressed to General Grant, on account of his proclama- 
tion respecting the guerillas, threatening to confiscate rebel 
property in return for their ravages : 

Sinatoria, July 16, 1862. 

U. S. Grant: 

Sir : We have seen your infamous and fiendish proclamation. It 
is characteristic of your infernal policy. * * * If you attempt 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



133 



to carry out your threat against the property of citizens, we will 
make you rue the day you issued your dastardly proclamation. You 
call us guerillas, which you know is false. We are recognized by our 
Government ; and it was us who attacked your wagons at Morning 
Sun. We have twenty-three men of yours, and, as soon as you carry 
out your threat against the citizens of the vicinity of Morning Sun, 
your Hessians will pay for it. We are ready, aud more than willing, 
to raise the " black flag." There are two thousand partisans who 
have sworn to retaliate. Henceforth our motto shall be, Blood for 
blood, and blood for property. We intend, by the help of God, to 
hang on the outskirts of your rabble, like lightning around the edge 
of a cloud. Respectfully, 

Geo, R. Merritt. 



CHAPTER XI. 



The Position of onr Army— The Grand Programme— Armies in Motion — 
Bragg tries to Deceive Grant— The Advance toward Iuka— The Fight — 
The Victory— The Stampede— General Grant's Words of Cheer— Des- 
patch from the President — A Curiosity. 



ERE we may pause, and see how the combatants 



stand. The Mississippi is clear to Memphis, and 



£f5~/ at the mouth ; for Butler, who knew so well how 
P^^* to deal with rebels, is at Xew Orleans. 



gone to Yicksburg, Port Hudson, and Baton Rouge, and 
other points on the Mississippi, to blockade and hold that 
great thoroughfare of trade in the valley of the "West. 

Let us unroll the map again. Although, during the 
summer months, there was a lull in the wide arena of the 
"Western conflict, neither army was idle. Major-General 
Buell's forces were east of Memphis, not far from Hunts- 
ville in Alabama, with Chattanooga for his coveted prize. 
For this, he left Corinth in June. Major-General Curtis 
was west of the Mississippi, at Helena, Arkansas. Briga- 
dier-General Sckofleld was north of him, in Southwestern 





The forces defeated bv Halleck and Grant had 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



135 



Missouri ; while Major-General Grant, with the central 
army, was on the line of West Tennessee and North Mis- 
sissippi, between Memphis and Iuka, protecting the rail- 
roads south from Columbus, our only channels of supply. 

The mighty sweep of these combined armies was 
around and across a territory six hundred miles in width, 
from Western Arkansas to the Cumberland Gap, and 
more than one hundred and fifty miles in the other direc- 
tion. From this area the enemy had been recently 
driven. The foe, greatly reenforced by conscription, while 
we were weakened by losses, had formed magnificent plans 
of conquest. The grand programme was, to reoccupy the 
lost ground back to Kentucky, and then roll their tide of 
invasion, like the Goths and Huns of old, over the bor- 
ders of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Eaids into Maryland 
and Pennsylvania, with Indian troubles at the West, were 
to furnish a most auspicious time for the sublimely daring 
advance through the valley of the West. 

General Braxton Bragg, of the rebel army, opened 
the gigantic enterprise finely. Hastening from Tripoli, 
Miss., through Alabama and Georgia, he reached Chatta- 
nooga, by nature a stronghold, ahead of Buell, who fell 
back to Nashville, Tenn. Another hostile column had got 
into Cumberland Gap, and looked menacingly toward Cm-, 
cinnati. Meanwhile, the President had wisely, and just in 
season, issued another call for troops. Oh, how wildly the 
great Northwest echoed back the appeal ! Her sons went 
streaming down like the rivers, in living tides, toward the 



136 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



seat of war. Cincinnati and Louisville were soon forti- 
fied. 

To get the advantage further, Bragg had published an 
order, bearing date at Sparta, away in Alabama, when he 
was safely at Chattanooga. But he was found, and Gen- 
eral Buell sent after him with one hundred thousand men. 

At Perryville a severe battle was fought, and the 
enemy routed. Bragg had hoped to swing, by a flank 
movement, around Grant, to the Ohio River ; Corinth 
lying nearly in a directly westerly line from Chattanooga. 
It was ascertained that Generals Van Dorn and Price 
.were advancing toward our camp at Jacinto, which was at 
once removed, to prepare for the greater conflict im- 
pending. 

September 18th, soon after break of day, in a drench- 
ing rain, and through mud, the uncomplaining volunteers 
moved toward the enemy ; Generals Grant and Ord ap- 
proaching Iuka from the north, and General Rosecrans 
from the south. The position of the rebel army cut off 
communication between Generals Grant and Buell, and at 
any cost it must be routed. Price, finding that the Union 
lines were likely to close around him, left the town, and 
fell on Rosecrans with desperate fury, at four o'clock p. m. 
Till the sun went down, darkened with the " sulphurous 
canopy," bullets and steel, cannon and shell did their 
work well. From the long ridge, commanding a large 
extent of the country around, the rebels rained down de- 
struction, till one third of our troops were killed or 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



137 



wounded. But so deadly had been our fire, that, in the 
night, the enemy evacuated Iuka, and, when morning lit 
up the gory scene, General Rosecrans marched into it with 
flying banners. General Grant, who, with General Ord, 
had taken the northern route to cut off Price's retreat, but 
failed because he escaped toward the east, soon after fol- 
lowed the victorious ranks into the deserted works. 

A rebel letter, written after the victory, contains a 
glimpse of the fight from his side : 

u We held peaceable possession of Iuka for one day, 
and, on the next, were alarmed by the booming of can- 
non, and were called out to spend the evening in battle 
array in the woods. On the evening of the 19th, when 
we supposed we were going back to camp to rest awhile, 
the sharp crack of musketry on the right of our former 
lines told us that the enemy was much nearer than we 
imagined. In fact, they had almost penetrated the town 
itself. How on earth, with the woods full of our cavalry, 
they could have approached so near our lines, is a mys- 
tery. They had planted a battery sufficiently near to shell 
General Price's headquarters, and were cracking away at 
the Third Brigade, when the Fourth came up at double 
quick, and then, for two hours and fifteen minutes, was 
kept up the most terrific fire of musketry that ever dinned 
my ears. There was one continuous roar of small arms, 
while grape and canister howled in fearful concert above 
our heads and through our ranks. General Little was 
shot dead early in the action. * * * It was a terrible 



138 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



struggle, and we lost heavily. All night could be heard 
the groans of the wounded and dying, forming a sequel of 
horror and agony to the deadly struggle, over which night 
had kindly thrown its mantle. Saddest of all, our dead 
were left unburied, and many of the wounded on the bat- 
tle field, to be taken in charge by the enemy." 

General Grant was proud of the brave boys who had 
driven out eighteen thousand rebels, and taken possession 
of their quarters, and said to them : 

" The General commanding takes great pleasure in 
congratulating the two wings of the army, commanded 
respectively by Major-General Ord and Major-General 
Kosecrans, upon the energy, alacrity, and bravery dis- 
played by them. * * * And, while congratulating 
the noble living, it is meet to offer our condolence to the 
friends of the heroic dead, who offered their lives a sacri- 
fice in defence of constitutional liberty, and in their fall 
rendered memorable the field of Iuka." 

But this terrible " whipping " did not stop long the 
advance of Bragg toward the Ohio River — the goal of 
his hopes and ambition, as before stated, at the beginning 
of the campaign. 

To command the region farther northward, the direc- 
tion the enemy were going, General Grant took up his 
headquarters at Jackson, about forty miles northwest of 
Corinth. The rebels that fled from Iuka, by the skilful 
management of Price, had succeeded in reaching a point 
in Tippah County, Miss., where Generals Van Born and 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



139 



Lovell could join him. So here we have united all the 
Confederate forces in Northern Mississippi ; and by Octo- 
ber 1st the entire army was advancing toward Corinth, 
resolved, by taking it, to cut the Union lines, and compel 
us to retreat. A diagram will show you nearly the 
position : 



Jackson. 

* 




Pocahontas. Corinth. 

General Grant was at Jackson ; General Rosecrans at 
Corinth ; General Ord at Bolivar ; and General Hurlbut 
near Pocahontas, where the main body of the rebel army 
lay, ready to spring upon either of the Union positions 
given. The enemy had only the southern line open, not 
far from which was the Hatchie Kiver. 

General Grant, who had been wide awake, and, by 
sending out scouts in every direction, had learned the 
enemy's movements, was master of the situation. Of. 
the railways forming the sides of the triangle at whose 
apex he was intrenched, the rebels had taken pos- 
session of the track between Corinth and Jackson, inter- 
rupting direct intercourse between the towns. Still other 



140 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



lines were clear, and the telegraph working, ready to sum- 
mon the troops to the position assailed. 

October 2d, skirmishing began before Corinth. Briga- 
dier-Generals Hamilton, McKean, Da vies, and Stanley, 
were within its walls with Bosencrans. 

The next day, about ten o'clock, the battle opened in 
earnest. General Grant, with his eye over the triangular 
field, was directing the whole machinery of the opening 
struggle. General McPherson, at Jackson, was ordered 
to join, with a brigade, General Eosecrans ; while Gen- 
eral Hurlbut, with other forces, was marching to cut off 
retreat by way of Pocahontas. 

Noon came, and thunder, smoke, hissing shot, scream- 
ing shell, yelhng combatants, and the shouts of command, 
were the signs of the terrible strife. 

The sun sinks toward the west, flinging his golden 
beams over the rich autumnal landscape, and on the surg- 
ing columns of the foemen, on both sides equally unyield- 
ing. For many miles the heavy roar of the artillery 
swells with strange distinctness, as the twilight stillness 
steals upon the bosom of nature. Then, darkness hangs a 
veil between the fiery eyes of the grappling brethren of a 
common heritage, and they relax the bloody grasp, and he 
down in weariness on their arms to sleep. 

The next morning's light kindles upon the uprisen 
hosts among the dead and wounded, in battle array. 
Back and forth the swaying masses of armed men move 
in the darkened atmosphere, till noon. Then the rebel 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



141 



ranks fall back ; the die is cast ; now, in full retreat, they 
rush for the Hatchie River. 

From the very streets into which some had forced 
their way, and from the grounds without, strewn with the 
slain and wounded, they are chased by General Rose- 
crans to the woods, broken and routed, the fragments of 
a just now confident and heroic army, leaving nearly a 
thousand prisoners behind, besides the wounded. He cap- 
tures also six hundred stand of arms. Our loss in killed, 
wounded, and missing, is about eight hundred; while 
theirs is greater, owing to the advantage our troops had in 
righting behind intrenchments. 

While Rosecrans pushed the flying foe in the direc- 
tion of Hatchie River, Generals Hurlbut and Ord, who, as 
before mentioned, had gone to intercept the retreating 
troops, along narrow roads, through swamps, and over 
rocky ridges, crossed their path on the banks of the 
stream. 

A furious conflict followed for several hours on the 
5th. Nothing could resist the onset, in which General 
Ord was wounded, and left the command to General Hurl- 
but ; and away the beaten rebels went, like a flock of terri- 
fied sheep, over the river, into the wooded heights beyond. 

General Grant, in closing his despatch communicating . 
the success, says : 

" I have strained everything to take into the fight an 
adequate force ) and to get them to the right place." 

His military genius triumphed in the high endeavor. 



142 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Corinth was lost to the cause of treason, and stood, the 
great war-clasp, holding unbroken the grand line of the 
Union army between the traitors and the Ohio River. 
Peace was restored again to Western Tennessee. 

Our sagacious, unpretending hero, possessing pre- 
eminently what is termed " pluck," relieved his Ml heart 
bj an address to his troops, in which are these words : 

"It is with heartfelt gratitude the General Command- 
ing congratulates the armies of the "West for another 
great victory won by them on the 3d, 4th, and 5th in- 
stants, over the combined armies of Van Dorn, Price, and 
Lovell. 

" The enemy chose his own time and place of attack, 
and knowing the troops of the West as he does, and with 
great facilities for knowing their numbers, never would 
have made the attempt except with a superior force nu- 
merically. But ' for the undaunted bravery of officers and 
soldiers, who have yet to learn defeat, the efforts of the 
enemy must have proven successful. 

" As in all great battles, so in this, it becomes our fate 
to mourn the loss of many brave and faithful officers and 
soldiers, who have given up their lives as a sacrifice for a 
great principle. The nation mourns for them." 

No sooner had the good news reached Washington, 
than the President sent over the wires the following 
message : 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



143 



Washington, D. C, October 8, 1862. 

Major-Gen eral Grant : 

I congratulate you and all concerned in your recent battles and 
victories. How does it all sum up ? I especially regret the death of 
General Hackleman, and am very anxious to know the condition of 
General Oglesby, who is an intimate personal friend. 

A. Lincoln. 

This despatch was followed by another, which will be 
a curious relic in the future archives of the civil war, and 
of the country. If you live, rny young reader, to mature 
manhood, you will hear it referred to as such. Up to the 
date of it, and afterward, the Government, and the people 
generally, supposed we were fighting to get the States 
back just as they were before the conflict — slavery and 
all. But God had determined it should not he so. Here 
is the message : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, Oct. 21, 1862. 
Major-General Grant, Governor Johnson, and all having Military, 
Naval, and Civil Authority under the United States within the 
State of Tennessee : 

The bearer of this, Thomas R. Smith, a citizen of Tennessee, goes 
to that State, seeking to have such of the people thereof as desire to 
avoid the unsatisfactory prospect before them, and to have peace 
again upon the old terms under the Constitution of the United States, 
to manifest such desire by elections of members to the Congress of 
the United States particularly, and perhaps a Legislature, State offi- 
cers, and a United States senator friendly to their object. I shall be 
glad for you and each of you to aid him, and all others acting for 
this object, as much as possible. * * * * Of course, the men 



144 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



elected should be gentlemen of character, willing to swear support to 
the C: ~ m as of old, and known to be above reasonable suspi- 
cion of duplicity. 

Yours, very respectfully, A. LnfCOLsr. 

Eren children smile already at the talk then, of 
"peace again upon the old terms under the Constitution.'' 
The good, honest President had much to learn of the true 
character of the war, and the will of the King of kings in 
regard to the struggle then scarcely begun, in its connec- 
tion with slavery, the bitter cause of the war. 



CHAPTER XII. 




A larger Field, and "bolder Plans— Getting Ready— Skirmishes— Cotton- 
Negroes— Jews— Speculators— Grant's Sense of Honor— Vicksburg and 
the Mississippi— Farragut's Fleet— The Bombardment— Failure— A 
worthless Canal— The Noble Logan— Holly Springs Surrenders to the 
Rebels — Amusing Scenes. 

OW steady the progress of our hero in military 
fame ! Each success has opened the field for a 
greater one. Cairo, Forts Henry and Donelson, 
Shiloh, Corinth, and now " On to Yicksburg ! " 
each attended with a still wider theatre of opera- 
tions, are the marvellous strides of the conqueror, during 
a period of less than a year, in the march of destiny. A 
new and broader department, and more daring designs, 
open before him. He took command of the Department 
of Tennessee, which extended into Mississippi as far as 
Yicksburg, October 25th, 1862. He mapped it out in the 
following order : 

The First Division will constitute the " District of 
Memphis," Major-General W. T. Sherman commanding ; 
the Second Division, the " District of Jackson," com- 
10 



146 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRAXT. 



man ded by Major- General S. A. Hurlbut ; the Third 
Division, the "District of Corinth," Brigadier-General C. 
S. Hamilton commanding ; the Fourth Division, the " Dis- 
trict of Columbus/' commanded by Brigadier-General T. 
A. Davies. 

In every noble and difficult achievement for men or 
boys, there is first the hard, quiet work of preparation, 
to do. From the very last of October till late in Novem- 
ber, General Grant had just this less exciting and un- 
appreciated toil, before attempting the gigantic enterprise 
of taking Vicksburg* The vast machinerv of a moving 

O C >J o 

army — wagons, tents, stores, hospital shelter — he deter- 
mined to reduce to the smallest possible amount. Even 
the officers' baggage must be limited to " blankets, one 

COO i 

small valise or carpet bag, and a moderate mess kit," or 
eating apparatus. 

The last of October, Colonel Lee, of General Grant's 
army, with a body of cavalry, dashed down to Ripley, 
Miss., took it, held it for a day, captured prisoners, and 
returned to Grand Junction. This town is east of La 
Grange, between Corinth and Memphis ; to which, two 
days later, the Commanding General removed his head- 
quarters. The movement deceived the rebels, who went 
to fortifying near Ripley, because Lee had been there. 

This cavalry officer made another grand reconnois- 
sance with two divisions of infantry and artillery, and 
part of a cavalry division, toward Hudsonville. He met 
the rebels, fought, conquered, and, besides killing sixteen, 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 147 

;took one hundred and thirty-four prisoners, with horses 
and arms. General Grant was highly gratified, and re- 
commended Colonel Lee earnestly for promotion. He 
became, afterward, brigadier-general. 

By the expedition, he found that General Lovell was 
at Holly Springs; Price, with twelve thousand men, 
seven miles below ; about twenty miles farther toward the 
Gulf, thirteen thousand more were encamped. 

General Grant was a just and gentlemanly officer. 
These qualities were visible in all his conduct. He won 
from friends and foes the homage of true virtue — of honor 
and integrity above a mean military ambition, or mer- 
cenary use of office and its opportunities to get money. 

No reasonable complaint was disregarded, though it 
came from rebels. When the old farmers made bitter 
charges against the reconnoitring parties, because their 
fields, larders, and barns were pillaged, he ordered strict 
watchfulness by officers, and the arrest of offenders. 

He overlooked no interest. " King Cotton " had be- 
come lawful plunder. If seized south of Jackson, he was 
directed to be sent there ; if seized north, to Columbus, 
:Ky., in care of the quartermasters. Not only so, but the 
clark-skinned laborers, by whose unrequited toil he flour- 
ished, and who had fled from their masters to our lines, 
were to be cared for ; and General Grant was the very 
man to do it. He established a camp at Grand Junction, 
under Chaplain Eaton, where food, raiment, medical at- 
tendance, and work in " picking, ginning, and baling all 
cotton outstanding in the fields," was to be provided. 



148 



LIFE OF GEXEKAL GRANT. 



He tried an original and pretty sure way of breaking 
up stealing in a regiment, -whose robberies of stores, and 
of each other, amounted to one thousand two hundred and 
forty -two dollars. The sum was charged to the regiment, 
and the negligent officers dismissed. 

All kinds of speculation were going on. The Jews, 
that singular, scattered, yet united people, despised, but 
found everywhere, and always having plenty of money, 
were the hardest and most troublesome hangers-on of the 
army. General Grant's ire was a little roused at last, as 
the tone of the annexed order shows : 

Headquarters, Department of the Tennessee, ) 
Oxford, Miss., December 17, 1S62. $ 

The Jews, as a class, violating every regulation of trade estab- 
lished by the Treasury Department, also department orders, are 
hereby expelled from the department within twenty-four hours from 
the receipt of this order by post commanders. They will see that all 
this class of people are furnished with passes and required to leave ; 
and any one returning after such notification will be arrested and 
held in confinement until an opportunity occurs of sending them out 
as prisoners, unless furnished with permits from these headquarters. 
No passes will be given these people to visit headquarters for the pur 
pose of making personal application for trade permits. 

By order of j\Iajor-General Grant. 

At the same time, to avoid unnecessary suffering to 
the conquered inhabitants, he was inclined to allow trade 
in articles of food and clothing, under proper regulations, 
with those who took the oath of allegiance. But advan- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 149 

: tage was taken even of this kind design. The following 
conversation, if not entirely literal, is a fair illustration of 
what transpired at headquarters : 

" General, I would like to open trade according to 
I your order." 

" Have you taken the oath required ? " 
" I have." 

u What do you propose to do ? " 

" That, with the authority to trade, you name reliable 
Union men through whom to carry on the business." 

" I shall do no such thing. If I did, it would appear, 
in less than a week, that I was partner with every one of 
the persons trading under my authority." 

It seems incredible, that commanders and provost- 
marshals should be continually plied by speculators in trea- 
son not only, but in the very wants and sufferings of our 
own soldiers. It is well that we have heroes like Grant, 
who disdain a bribe, and whose loyalty rings out clear as 
a bell, when struck by the leprous hand of a traitor, no * 
less than when its metal is tried with the heaviest blows 
of mortal combat. 

All things were now ready for an advance into Missis- 
sippi. The majestic river of the same name sweeps along 
a channel three thousand miles in length, from the beauti- 
ful Lake Itasca, Its name is from the Ojibway Indian 
dialect, and means " Father of Waters." It is of priceless 
importance to the country, not alone because it is the 
broad highway of navigation, but on account of its tribu- 



150 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



taries, spreading like a grand network of water paths for 
the ceaseless march of commerce over the " empire of the 
West." The magnificent channel receiving them all had 
been blockaded at various points, and opened again by the 
gunboats, whose ponderous hail of shot and bombshell was 
unendurable by the garrisons. 

In January, 1861, the governor of Mississippi com- 
menced the fortifications of Yicksburg — by natural position, 
with high bluffs, a place of remarkable strength for this 
purpose. Profiting by the loss of Island No. 10, and the 
forts above Memphis, no engineering skill and expense were 
spared to make it impregnable. Fortress was built within 
fortress ; rows of heavy guns rose one over the other in 
the cliffs, till the stronghold defied ironclads from the 
river, and armies from the land. Next to Corinth, a rail- 
road and general centre of the conflict in the field, Vicks. 
burg was the object of interest to both armies. During 
the summer before, the splendid fleet of Farragut, which 
steamed by the forts guarding New Orleans, in a perfect 
blaze of the hottest cannonading, arrived before Yicks- 
burg. 

June 27th, having reduced Memphis, the bombard- 
ment began. For more than four long weeks the awful 
storm beat, with occasional interludes, upon the walls in 
vain. Low water then compelled the fleet to drop clown 
to New Orleans. Meanwhile, the ram Arkansas, built up 
the Yazoo, and run down to the front of Vicksburg to 
make it more formidable, had been destroyed by our 
" Essex " and " Queen of the West." 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



151 



So far, no impression lias been made on the bristling 
giant guarding the mighty current of life to the nation. 
A new idea is started. At Vicksburg, you have noticed, 
the Mississippi makes a sharp bend, on whose outer or 
eastern curve the city stands. Now for a canal across the 
bend, and lead the river away from the defiant Sebastopol, 
making it, by isolation, powerless to hinder the navigation. 
The plan looks well ; and July 2 2d, while General Grant 
was at Memphis, the canal was finished. 

It proved to be a failure. The wrong spot had been 
chosen, and the waters of the river were too low to flow 
through the channel. The entire siege was raised, and a 
shout of exultation went up from the fortress as ships and 
men departed. 

Such was the condition of Vicksburg, when General 
Grant fixed his eye upon the prize. The brave, Christian 
General Logan, who said of the war, although relatives 
opposed it, that he would not return to his home till the 
rebellion was crushed, and also declared in the National 
Capitol, that, if not otherwise done, " the men of the 
Northwest, were they allowed to, would hew their way to 
the Gulf," was placed in command at Cairo. The West- 
ern " boys " were ready to carry out the noble assurance 
of Logan. Additional troops were ordered to General 
Grant's army ; and in all directions, bodies of cavalry 
were searching for the enemy. The Commanding General 
moved along the Mississippi Central Railroad from his 
headquarters at Grand Junction, southward. 



152 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



All day Saturday and Sunday, November 29th and 
30th, the troops poured through the charming streets, lined 
with foliage, of Holly Springs, until its six thousand in- 
habitants " began to think the entire North was emptying 
itself through them." 

About the middle of December, General Grant's head- 
quarters were at Oxford, several miles beyond. 

On the 20th occurred a sad and memorable affair to 
delay his onward march. Although he had taken every 
precaution against surprise, and displayed the highest gen- 
eralship in the management of the columns covering many 
miles of the enemy's country, the rebels made a dash aG 
Holly Springs in his rear. He expected it, telegraphed 
Colonel Murphy, in command, that they were after him, 
and that reinforcements were on the way, although he 
was strong enough to defend the place. The troops from 
Grant were delayed, and on came the rebel cavalry, just 
as the morning beams fell on the quiet town. Two rail- 
road trains, one loaded with cotton, were soon in a blaze. 
Then the work of pillage and burning was the order of 
the day. 

Colonel Murphy was a coward, and made almost no 
resistance. The troops fought without a leader awhile, 
but in vain. Up and down the streets the raiders went. 
People in their night clothes rushed out of the houses. 
One man, whose boots had been carried off, in his fright 
put on only his coat containing his money, drawers, stock- 
ings, and spurs, went to the stable, took his horse, and 
rode away. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



153 



Another cotton speculator from Ohio woke np his com- 
panion, and exclaimed : " Get up ; the town is full of 
secesh ! " Lough jumped up, took a single glance, and 
replied, excitedly : " King, we're gobbled, by Judas ! " 
King declared he never heard him swear before or since. 

Not long after, a member of Van Dorn's staff, who 
was dealing with the cotton buyers, came to King. 

" Where do you live ? " 

" In Newark, Ohio, sir." 

" Are you connected with the army ? " 

"No, sir." 

" What are you doing here, sir ? " 

Here King tried to evade the question. 

" Are you not a cotton buyer, sir ? " 

" Yes, sir (ahem) • have invested all my spare money 
in cotton, and to-day it has gone up the spout ! " (That is 
to say, lost by the raid.) 

The truth is, King had his money secreted, excepting 
seventy dollars in greenbacks, and a gold dollar. The 
officer, returning the wallet, said : 

" That little button is worth all the balance." 

A Eichmond paper contained the following description : 

" The breaking streaks of daylight showed the Yan- 
kee tents with their undisturbed slumbers. A charge was 
.ordered upon them. To paraphrase 1 Belgium's ' picture : 

1 Ah, then and there was hurrying to and fro, 
And running in hot haste, 
And cheeks ail pale and blanched with woe, 
Exhibiting Yankee cowardice.' " 



154 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



The last allusion was too true. General Grant was 
indignant when the news reached him, and issued an 
order expressing his deep mortification ; which, soon after, 
was followed by another, dismissing Colonel Murphy from 
the service. 

General Grant had to fall back to Holly Springs, get 
fresh supplies in place of those destroyed, and move again 
onward. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



The Grand Plan Deranged— Sherman's Flotilla— His Assault on Vicksburg 
—Defeat— Fatal Ambition— Disloyalty— President's Proclamation of 
Freedom and General Grant — "Vicksburg again — Canals around the City 
a Failure— The Copperhead and the Bush. 

OW much evil may result from a single blunder, 
or, what is far worse, a neglect of duty ! A 
lad, several years ago, by a wilfully careless dis- 
regard of his mother's counsels, set fire to the 
mansion, and consumed everything but the fam- 
ily with it. 

The cowardly conduct of the colonel at Holly Springs 
was not only followed by pillage and burning there, but 
interfered with General Grant's whole plan respecting 
Vicksburg. 

General Sherman, a gallant officer at Memphis, was 
intrusted with a grand expedition down the river, to co- 
operate with the former in the bold attempt to get that 
key of the Mississippi, which would open its waters to. the 
impatient West. 

December 20th, his magnificent flotilla of one hundred 



/ 



156 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



and twenty-seven steamers, besides gunboats, moved down 
the Mississippi — a sight you, my reader, wonld like to 
have witnessed. With streamers flying and bands play- 
ing, for miles the Father of Waters presented a rare and 
stirring scene. 

General Sherman did not know of General Grant's 
detention at Holly Springs. December 27th he arrived 
at Johnson's Landing, near the mouth of Yazoo Eiver. 
He immediately prepared to assault Vicksburg from the 
north. 

Sunday, the 27th, the engagement became general. 
There stood Sherman's " Right Wing of the Army of the 
Tennessee," amid the sloughs, bayous, and lagoons of the 
swampy ground between the hills and the city ; while the 
enemy, reenforced by troops which fled before General 
Grant, rained death on their "rank and file," and the 
sharpshooters in the woods picked off the officers. 

Over ditches in which the horses mired and were left, 
across bloody rifle pits, through dense woods, and over 
heaps of fallen timber, the columns struggled, to the sound 
ringing above all the tumult, " Forward ! " It was all in 
vain. General Sherman was compelled to retire, arid re- 
embark his troops. In the affair, he did not wait for 
General Grant, excusing himself by saying, in his order 
after the bat lie : " We were on time ; unforeseen contin- 
gencies must have delayed other?." 

The costly and fruitless assault looks like the adven- 
turous, ambitious effort to do the work and win the laurels 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



157 



alone. If so, how unlike the patient leader of the ad- 
vancing host ! 

After hostilities had ceased, and the slain and wounded 
were borne away under a flag of truce, the pickets had 
the following talk : 

" How far is it to Vicksburg ? " 

Rebel picket. 11 So far you'll never git thar." 

Federal picket. " How many men have you got ? " 

Rebel picket. " Enough to clean you out." 

Then another rebel, who seemed to be the stump 
speaker of the squad, with a flourish, added : 

" Banks has been whipped out at Port Hudson, Mem- 
phis has been retaken, and you Yankees will not take 
Vicksburg till hell freezes over." 

And so the conversation went on during the four 
hours of truce. The profane assertion of the rebel was 
destined to be refuted in the heat of the next midsummer. 

Meanwhile, General Grant, having detected disloyalty 
in the One Hundred and Ninth Illinois Infantry, he immedi- 
ately put the regiment under arrest, having their arms taken 
away. A court of inquiry exonerated the troops, except- 
ing the lieutenant-colonel and several subordinate officers, 
and restored them to their place, " where the Command- 
ing General hoped to find them among the pure and patri- 
otic, in their country's defence." 

Soon after, General Grant's headquarters again were 
removed to Memphis, Tenn. 

January 1st, 1863 ! Most memorable New-Years 



158 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



day ! The President's Proclamation of Emancipation 
went, during all its winter hours, along the network of 
telegraph wires stretching from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific. Strong men wept, others shouted, others still 
could only pray or sing. The chains of millions of slaves 
had virtually fallen from their limbs. 

And what had General Grant to do with it ? "When 
Adjutant- Gen era! Thomas, clothed with authority to carry 
out that proclamation, visited the southwestern armies, as 
he assured .me, how he should be received by the officers, 
many of them Southern men, who hated " abolition," was 
a serious question. But General Thomas is a lion when 
roused by resistance or danger. He called the command- 
ers together, and addressed them, declaring that the proc- 
lamation would be enforced to the letter. We have our 
chief 's response ; 

I. Corps, division, and post commanders will afford all facilities 
for the completion of the negro regiments now organizing in this 
department. Commissaries will issue supplies, and quartermasters 
will furnish stores on the same requisitions and returns as are re- 
quired from other troops. 

It is expected that all commanders will especially exert them- 
selves in carrying out the policy of the Administration, not only in 
organizing colored regiments, and rendering them efficient, but also 
in removing prejudice against them. * * * 

Major-General U. S. Grant. 

Manly and patriotic words ! 

Early in February, his headquarters are at Young's 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



159 



Point, in Louisiana, near enough to Vicksburg to observe 
the enemy's movements, examine their fortifications, and 
arrange his maturing plans for a fresh advance upon the 
fortress. For, the school story about u Can't," so perfectly 
characteristic of the man, never had a finer illustration 
than now. The proud fortress he must and would take ; 
that, with God's permission, was settled. 

Councils of war resulted in the unanimous opinion, in 
accordance with General Grant's, that the south side was 
the pregnable side of Vicksburg. But how shall he get 
there ? Port Hudson stands guard below, and Walnut 
Hills above. The old, abandoned canal, cut by Engineer 
Williams across the bend on which the city lies, is thought 
of by General Grant, and its reopening, though it had 
been filled up by the rebels, commenced, in the hope of 
getting through with high water in the spring. But the 
dam gave way at one end ; the water overflowed the 
lands, and the enterprise was abandoned. 

Orders, limiting the communications from the army, 
through negroes and citizens, to the smallest possible num- 
ber, to preserve the utmost secrecy, were issued. The 
silent, thoughtful, cautious commander was absorbed in 
the mighty undertaking in his hands. 

A reconnoissance had been made in the neighborhood 
of Lake Providence, during which Captain Prime, chief 
of engineers on General Grant's staff, noticed bayous run- 
ning into the country back of Milliken's Bend, north of 
Vicksburg. There was another at New Carthage, south 
of the city. 



160 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" Bayous — what are they ? " a young reader asks. A 
bayou is a lake-like expansion, or flow of the river into a 
curve of the stream, extending often many miles inland. 
The word means channel. " Pass," is a stream from the 
main current, which returns again at some distance. 

A bayou canal had been dug near Island No. 10, and 
why not around Vicksburg ? Captain Prime was sure it 
could be done, after an examination by himself and 
Colonel Pride. Lake Providence was only a mile from 
the river, and was connected by Bayou Baxter with 
Bayou Macon. The map will give the situation of these 
waters not only, but make you think the plan a very easy 
one, to cut a channel from the Mississippi to Lake Provi- 
dence, which is lower than the current, and was doubtless 
once a part of it. Commence at this point, and glance along 
the bayous to Tensas River, then down it to Black River, 
and to the mouth of this, at Red River, and the course is 
clear enough to the Mississippi between Port Hudson and 
Vicksburg. 

The work went on till vessels entered Lake Provi- 
dence. But the falling water of the river, and passable 
roads, led to the abandonment of the scheme, which 
General Grant all the while suspected might fail ; yet the 
enterprise was valuable, as a concealment from the enemy 
of other plots against their stronghold. 

Meanwhile, Admiral Porter's fleet of gunboats were 
acting with General Grant on the Mississippi ; Colonel 
Ellet haying run by the batteries at Vicksburg with the 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



161 



"Queen of the West," near the middle of February, had 
gone up Heel River, and captured transports. The noble 
ship, with the " Indianola," which followed her, however 
fell, subsequently, into the hands of the rebels. 

And now another and wilder expedition was proposed. 
It was, to get through the long-neglected Yazoo Pass, 
leading from the Mississippi to Coldwater and the Talla- 
hatchie Rivers : thus getting a passage for troops by flank 
movement to Haines's Bluff, a post near the mouth of 
Yazoo River. 

An extract from an officer of the gunboat " Marmora" 
will afford a vivid view of the adventure : 

" The Rubicon is passed. Three and a half days of 
most tedious, vexatious, bothersome, troublesome, and 
damaging steamboating has brought this expedition twenty 
miles on its way, and disclosed to its view the end of the 
now famous Yazoo Pass. A more execrable place was 
never known. Should one propose to run a steamboat to 
the moon, he would be considered equally sane, by those 
who had seen the Yazoo Pass before this expedition 
forced its way through it, as the person who proposed this 
movement. 

" 1 would like to describe the Yazoo Pass. I would 
like to compare it to something that would be intelligible. 
But I know of nothing in heaven or on earth, or in the 
waters under the earth, that will compare with it. Had 
the immortal bard desired a subject from which to draw a 
picture of the way that leads to the realms of darkness 
11 



162 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 



and despair, he had only to picture the Yazoo Pass. Let 
me try, in the feeble language I can command, to describe 
it. Perhaps the reader has passed through the Dismal 
Swamp of Virginia ; or, if not, he has read accounts of 
travellers who have enjoyed that privilege. Then he has 
read of the famous jungles of India. He has seen or 
read of the unbroken silence of the boundless tall forests 
of the John Brown tract in "Western New York. Con- 
ceive the ugliest features of these three varieties of terri- 
tory, and he will be able, by combining them, to form a 
tolerably correct idea of the region through which the 
Yazoo Pass runs. Those who have watched the course 
of a snake as he trails his way along the ground, winding 
this way and that, hither and yonder, going in all direc- 
tions at the same time, and yet' maintaining something of 
a regular course in the average, will, by exaggerating the 
picture in their own minds, understand something of the 
tortuous course of the Yazoo Pass. I have passed 
through it from one end to the other, and I assert can- 
didly, that there is not through out. its entire length a piece 
two hundred feet long of perfectly straight river." 

The rebels found out the project, and sent from Vicks- 
burg a force to the mouth of Tallahatchie River, erected 
Fort Pemberton, and put an end to the enterprise. 

The last expedition of the kind was undertaken by 
Admiral Porter and General Grant, at the suggestion of 
the former, up Steel's Bayou, through Black Bayou to 
Duck Creek, Deer Creek, Rolling Fork, and Sunflower 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



163 



River, into the Yazoo. The country was unexplored, 
delays were inevitable, and the enemy had time to ob- 
struct the way ; and, when near the completion of the 
difficult, romantic passage, it was reluctantly given up. 

One of the party thus graphically describes the Black 
Bayou : 

" Black Bayou, a narrow stream, heretofore only navi- 
gated by dug-outs, was made of the width of our steam- 
ers, with great labor of felling trees and sawing stumps 
below the surface. Every foot of our way was cut and 
torn through a dense forest, never before traversed by 
steamers. I never witnessed a more exciting and pic- 
turesque scene than the transportation, on the last day, of 
the Third Brigade, by General Stuart. Crowded with 
men, the steamers, at the highest possible speed, pushed 
through overhanging trees and around short curves. 
Sometimes wedged fast between trees, then sailing alone; 
smoothly, a huge cypress would reach out an arm and 
sweep the whole length of the boat?, tearing guards and 
chimneys from the decks. The last trip through the 
Black Bayou was in a night pitchy dark and rainy. 

" While the adventure was of uncertain success — 
when the result seemed almost accomplished, and when 
our gunboats were surrounded with an enemy confident of 
victory, and their extrication seemed almost an impossibil- 
ity — officers and men worked with equal alacrity, whether 
in building bridges or making forced marches, both by day 
and in the night. The whole time was used in labor, con- 



164 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



stant and severe. It seems almost a miracle that the boats 
were saved. If Generals Sherman and Stuart, by their 
utmost exertions and labor, had forwarded their troops a 
single half day later, if the second forced march under 
General Sherman had been retarded a single hour, in all 
human probability the whole force would have been lost." 

At different points severe encounters were had, often 
several thousand rebels appearing from ambush, or behind 
batteries. 

This, like the similar movements preceding, was highly 
serviceable in deceiving and bewildering the enemy. But 
the faultfinders at home were loud m their complaints. 

Said an heroic captam, now in Libby Prison, who ■ 
went to the battle field a pro-slavery politician, while on a 
furlough at home : 

" It is hard to fight an enemy in front and rear at the 
same time. I hear more complaints and carping here, in 
the midst of plenty, in a week, than in six months in the 
army." 

This fact is the darkest page in . the history of the 
war ; no matter whether slavery, or some other question 
of policy, be the occasion of opposition. 

Because of the silence kept around General Grant's 
army, suspending correspondence on account of guerillas 
on every hand, who would glean information, reports 
had been sent home, and circulated, that the army was 
dying with disease. This was good news for the dis- 
loyal ; but, as the surgeon-general's report and General 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



165 



Grant's despatches proved, was entirely and meanly false. 
While these men, who, when the war opened, were 
more afraid of " abolition " than of death, were en- 
forcing the proclamation, and threading dismal swamps, 
with the old flag in their hands, the Arnolds at home 
were scolding and lying. 

In Philadelphia an amusing illustration occurred. 

Rev. Dr. B was present in a gathering of ministers, 

when Dr. C opposed the President's course in regard 

to the slaves. Said Dr. B : 

" Brethren, when I was a young man, living West, I 
sometimes went over the prairie, kicking the low bushes 
to see what I could start. One day, when doing so, out 
came a copperhead. But he was there before I hit the 
bush. And thus with the proclamation. It has beaten the 
bush, and brought out the Copperheads. But they were 
there before." 

One crimson face, and a loud laugh from all others, 
silenced the disloyal lips. 



CHAPTER XIV. 




A New Plan — Admiral Farragut's Ship— Porter's Fleet — Hot Work — 
Thrilling Scene— G-rierson's Raid— Ludicrous Scenes— Banks and Grant 
— Passing Grand Gulf Batteries — The G-rand Advance — The Night 
March— The Night Battle— Port G-ibson Taken— Governor Yates and 
the Victory. 

)UR unwearied and undaunted commander must 
give up his favorite flanking movement. He 
cannot get through passes, bayous, and canals, 
into the rear of Yicksburg, and there take pos- 
session of the railroads to Jackson, the capital 
of the State. He next proposes to try a land route 
mainly. This is to be below the city, and behind the 
bluffs of Warrenton, along the country between the Mis- 
sissippi and Black Rivers. 

Admiral Farragut, the middle of March, in his fine 
flagship the " Hartford," attended by the " Albatross," 
steamed past Port Hudson, and, reaching a point near 
Yicksburg, communicated with General Grant and Admi- 
ral Porter. 

The last day of March, the great movement of the 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



167 



army began. Three corps of it were set in motion for the 
Louisiana shore, to concentrate at New Carthage, nearly 
opposite Warrenton* " The tug of war " is yet to come. 
How can the gunboats, and the transports to convey the 
soldiers over the river, under the command of Admiral 
Porter, get by the terraces of dark-mouthed cannon over- 
looking the water at Yicksburg ? 

April 16th shone serene and cloudless upon the flash- 
ing tide of the majestic river of the West. At eleven 
o'clock that night, eight gunboats and six transports were 
to try the mettle of the Confederate Gibraltar. 

Men are called for, willing to go into the jaws of de- 
struction. The brave fellows rush with a hurrah to the 
decks. All is ready. The signal bell strikes eleven. Oh 
that kindly clouds would eclipse the stars, and fling their 
shadows on the devoted ships ! But not a speck obscures 
the vernal sky. The steamers in sight are thronged to 
watch the scene ; and the suspense is painful among the 
crowds. " A boat is coming ! " are words which send a 
shudder of apprehension through every heart. Slowly, 
darkly, steadily it steals along the Louisiana shore, lost in 
foliage-shadow. Now it steers across to the Mississippi 
side ; and another spectral form floats into view ; another, 
and yet another, emerge from the gloom of night and 
distance. 

Midnight comes, and the procession of fourteen vessels 
is mowing in darkness and silence straight toward Yicks- 
burg, whose battlements loom through the gloom, re- 



168 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



lieved only by an occasional light. The boats are fire- 
less and lampless. Hopes and fears agitate the hearts 
and are on the lips of the spectators. Shall those strong 
ships and brave men go down under the fiery storm 
of a hundred echoing guns, or ride safely through ? 

Up shoots a flame, and the thunder of ordnance suc- 
ceeds it. The enemy have discovered the bold naviga- 
tors. The rows of fire, followed with the roar, go down 
from the crest of the fortress to the water's edge, flashing 
on the path of the undismayed warriors of the waters. 
Just at this moment, a rising, steady flame above the city 
lights up the theatre of conflict. High and broad it 
waves, like a luminous banner against the sky. " Vicks- 
burg is on fire ! " is the shout. No ; on the heights the 
foe have kindled a beacon, to show them where to strike 
the advancing line of boats. The intense glare makes a 
rope's shadow on the bright deck visible. But too late is 
the blaze thrown on the track of the leviathans. 

The rebels are in a fever of excitement. Porter's 
fleet must not join Farragut, if shot and shell can prevent 
it. Hiss ! whirr ! crash ! are the music of the death car- 
nival. 

The beacon dies, and another flame brightens on the 
gloom, through volumes of uprolling smoke. " A ship is 
on fire ! " The transport Henry Clay has caught from a 
burning shell. 

Soon the long line of blazing battlements from Vicks- 
burg to Warrenton grows dark and still, and the behold- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



169 



ers retire to wait the morning news. Wonderful are the 
tidings, that take the lightning's wing with the dawn, and 
fill many eyes with tears of joy. The fleet is safe, with 
comparatively small damage — one hero killed, and two 
others wounded. Excepting the Henry Clay, the ships 
ride securely between the fortress and New Carthage. 

General Grant breathes freely again, as the last and 
boldest plan of getting Yicksburg begins to wear the 
appearance of success. 

The very next day after the splendid feat on the river, 
an equally daring and extraordinary one on land was 
started. General Grant wanted all the railroads cut 
southeasterly from Yicksburg, before he left his position 
north of it, to prevent an attack in the rear, should he 
reach and invest the city. Colonel Grierson, of the First 
Cavalry Brigade, was selected to clo the work ; and the 
dashing trooper with delight entered upon the perilous 
gallop through the enemy's country. 

Other regiments were at Colonel Grierson's command. 
Away they ride for the railways, and across forests, fields, 
and swamps ; now here, to deceive the enemy in regard 
to the real design, and then in the opposite direction, tear 
ing up a track, capturing a train, or burning a mill. 

Amusing scenes enlivened the raiders' wild career. 
Some of them, stopping at a wealthy planter's house, who 
was also a guerilla, passed themselves off as Yan Dora's 
men ; for our soldiers, in these adventures, wore " secesh " 
uniform, more or less. Finding splendid horses in hia 



170 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



barn, they began to change the saddles from their tired 
steeds to the backs of his. 

" Can't spare 'em, gentlemen ! can't let these horses 
go ! " protested the planter. 

" We must have them. You want us to catch the 
Yankees, and we shall have to hurry to do it," replied the 
raiders. 

" All right, gentlemen. I'll keep your animals till you 
return. I suppose you'll be back in two or three days at 
the farthest. When you return, you'll find they have 
been well cared for." 

The guerilla is probably waiting still for his friends and 
horses. 

A young lady thus complains : 

" The first thing they did,- was to carry off Lizzie's 
buggy. They broke into the storeroom, and took sister 
Emily's wine, which they drank, and carried away next 
morning. As we sat quietly awaiting our fate, still hoping 
that God — in whose care ma had at the beginning placed 
us, kneeling with us in earnest prayer — would yet save us, 
we heard them dancing, whooping, breaking, and plunder- 
ing away over the house. They stole all my jewelry ; 
they broke all sister Emily's pictures. Nan (a servant) 
was very much distressed at their taking the blankets." 

Poor girl ! we smile at and pity her. War is no re- 
specter of persons, nor very particular about the amount 
of damage done along his path. 

East, northwest, and south the forces dash, apparently 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



171 



without order, and yet according to a well-matured plan. 
Trie main body of cavalry presses on, to cut a path 
through to our lines near New Orleans. Rebel camps 
are destroyed ; and, when hotly pursued, Colonel Grier- 
son dashes on a bridge, and, burning it behind him, gains 
time to escape. 

May 1st, at midday, a courier galloped into Baton 
Rouge, announcing the arrival of Colonel Grierson through 
the very heart of the enemy's country, near the city. 
The tidings seemed incredible. An escort soon met him, 
and, amid deafening cheers, the heroic raiders entered the 
town. 

In fifteen days, eight hundred miles had been trav- 
ersed, and for thirty hours the column had ridden eighty 
miles without rest or food, only as, the last night, nature 
surrendered to sleep ; and the worn, soiled, and half-fam- 
ished heroes rode forward like statues on horseback, ex- 
cepting when a rebel's gun startled them a moment. 

Four million dollars' worth of property was destroyed, 
the railroads torn up, and the mortifying, alarming fact 
forced home on the foe, that fancied security may be the 
moment of greatest danger. 

The news, to General Grant, was another assurance 
of triumph at hand, in the decisive game of which the 
raid was a single but brilliant move. 

My young reader will not forget, that over the field of 
army movements, many hundred miles in extent, the 
erection of batteries, cavalry raids, marches, &c, were 



172 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



planned and executed at the same time, in different parts 
of the vast area. 

General Banks was looking after Baton Rouge, in the 
neighborhood of New Orleans, and in another depart- 
ment ; still, connected with the great design of repossess- 
ing the whole valley of the West, to the Gulf of Mexico. 

General Grant believed in secrecy and promptness. 
Keep still, get ready, and then despatch the business in 
hand, was his motto. 

There was a point called Hard Times, by the circuit- 
ous land route, seventy miles down the Louisiana shore, 
which was nearer the spot on the Mississippi side where 
he intended to land his troops. To push forward rapidly, 
he resolved to build a road through the wild region, for 
the " boys " the transports could not carry, as they were 
too few to convey the whole. 

During the night of April 28th, the Thirteenth Army 
Corps got on board transports, which, the next morning, 
were ordered by General Grant to move toward Grand 
Gulf on the enemy's side, while Admiral Porter, with his 
gunboats, entertained the fort with his salutes of shot and 
shell. 

At eight o'clock, " boom ! boom ! " went the admiral's 
heavy guns. In a moment the compliment was returned. 
Then, for five hours, the tempest of iron hail raged. On 
a steamtug in the river stood Grant, watching with intense 
interest the effect of our guns, ready to bring forward the 
forces to storm the fortress when the naval work was 
done. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



173 



The enemy had tried to make the fort impregnable 
since Farragut came and went past it, and fought with a 
desperate fury, which the admiral declared he never saw 
equalled. The gunboat " Benton " was hit forty-seven 
times with the ponderous balls. On this ship, the "Pitts- 
burg," and "La Fayette/' over twenty were killed, and 
i nearly sixty wounded. 

The batteries at one time were nearly silenced. It 
was, however, decided to abandon the attempt to take 
! them, and send the transports by at evening, while Por- 
ter engaged the enemy. This was accomplished at six 
o'clock. Three days later, he returned to renew the fight, 
and found the works deserted. 

The next advance must be over the river, and on the 
! soil of Mississippi. No bolder and more sublime military 
enterprise was ever undertaken. 

The Thirteenth Army Corps, under General McCler- 
nand — a splendid body of men — push their columns to the 
river's margin, extending back in long and bristling lines. 
With brisk movement they soon are in the transports, 
and sweep over the tide. The die is cast. The troops 
land at Bruninsburg, below Grand Gulf, and, according to 
General Grant's instructions, march forward to the bluffs, 
I three miles distant, reaching these highlands just before 
they catch the glow of the setting sun. Now, in every 
partT)f the commander's host, there is activity and haste, 
under his inspiring and guiding genius. He sets the 
example of economy in baggage, that no luxury might 
enjbari ass their advance. Wrote one in the army ; 



174 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" Starting on the movement, the General disencum-^ 
bered himself of everything, setting an example to his 
officers and men. He took neither a horse nor a servant, 
overcoat nor blanket, nor tent nor camp chest, nor even a 
clean shirt. His only baggage consisted of a tooth brush. 
He always showed his teeth to the rebels. He shared all 
the hardships of the private soldier, sleeping in the front 
and in the open air, and eating hard tack and salt pork. 
He wore no sword, had on a low-crowned citizen's hat, 
and the only thing about him to mark him as a military 
man, was his two stars on his undress military coat." 

From the Bluffs, the corps press on toward Port Gib- 
son, to surprise the rebels there, and protect the bridges 
between Grand Gulf and Jackson, the capital of Missis- 
sippi. An exciting, romantic night march was that of the 
pioneer volunteers toward Vicksburg. How grand the 
spectacle, as the ranks for miles sweep along the road 
under the levee between them and the river ; then, turn- 
ing from it, go winding over the crests of hills, stretching 
away like a sea of solid waves of orange and emerald 
hue ! Up the precipitous sides of some bold bluff the 
rows of glittering steel creep, then pass in spectral indis- 
tinctness through a deep ravine ; now they sweep between 
wide fields of waving corn, and again over plains of the 
most fragrant flowers, and through vernal forests, whose 
magnolias are in full blossom, flinging, from their cups of 
alabaster, delicious aroma on the midnight air. 

Header, can you think of a greater earthly contrast 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



175 



than this, beside the track of war's legions ? It is not 
strange that a " soldier boy " in the magnificent cavalcade 
should write : 

" The harmony of the scene, naturally so suggestive 
of peace, was sadly marred by the constantly recurring 
evidences that man was at variance with his fellow." 

At length the columns approach Port Gibson ; they 
turn southward, passing a "primitive church," nestled in a 
grove of blooming magnolias, at one o'clock in the morn- 
ing. They had marched thirteen miles from Bruninsburg 
without meeting the enemy. But, " crack ! crack ! " go 
the light arms of the rebels, followed by the roar of artil- 
lery — the signals of an opposing host eleven thousand 
strong. 

As if by magic, the Union battalions wheel into line, 
and open fire in return. Soon silence settles upon the 
hostile batteries, till the dawn of day, when the fight 
opens in earnest. Around that ancient little church, far 
and near, the battle rages. Almost under its shadow lay 
twenty bodies on a space of a few rods. The enemy 
were thrown across the road to Port Gibson, and, at the 
centre, on that highway, the artillery fire was terrible. 

Between the armies, on our left, was a dense canebrake, 
filled with skirmishers, where they were secure against our 
fire, and from which " the deadly missiles came singing 
through the air, laying many a brave soldier low." 

How will the fearful struggle turn ? The tide of 
war, with a pendulum swing, beats back and forth over 



176 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



ridges of the slain. But look ! Along the road to Grand 
Gulf, see the splendid First Brigade of the Thirteenth 
Army Corps, sweeping like a tornado. Beenforcements 
are at hand. Long and loud, the shout of welcome rises 
over the din of battle. The fortunes of the day are 
decided. A letter written from the field, thus describes 
the scene : 

. " The boys fixed bayonets and boldly charged the 
position. Down upon their hands and knees, they worked 
their way through the young cane, and mercilessly slaugh- 
tered all who did not yield. One hundred and fifty men 
were taken prisoners in this glorious charge, and scores of 
rebels were killed and wounded. They gained the other 
side of the thicket, and picked off the men and liorses 
serving the rebel battery. The Union batteries finished 
the good work, and the position and guns fell into our 
hands. 

" Beaten at every point, losing one hundred and fifty 
killed, three hundred wounded, and more than five hun- 
dred prisoners, the enemy sullenly and rapidly retreated to 
Port Gibson, harassed in his flight by volleys of musketry 
and the most strenuous efforts of our artillery. 

u Without difficulty they reached Port Gibson, blow- 
ing np. when near* the village, a caisson filled with shot, 
shell, and powder. 

" Night was wrapping her sable mantle over hill and 
valley, and the silver moon shone out clear and bright, 
casting a flood of beautiful light over friend and foe, when 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



177 



the order was given to cease pursuit. TTe rested on the 
battle field, wearied and exhausted, and soon deep silence 
reigned supreme where Mars so recently held high car- 
nival." 

Major-General Grant hastened forward from Brunins- 
burg, and entered the crimson plain of victory, with the 
sad joy of another dearly-bought promise of reaching the 
goal of his hopes; 

The foe abandoned the fort in the night, and, when 
the flame of the rising sun paled the conflagration of the 
bridge over the Bayou Pierre, he finds in his rear the 
Stripes and Stars lifted by the breeze over the walls of 
Port Gibson. 

Soon a neAv bridge receives the advancing feet of the 
triumphant volunteers, and onward toward Vicksburg 
Grant's great army rapidly push, losing occasionally a 
hero-boy by the enemy's fire. 

The city is twenty-five miles from Grand Gulf, and 
eighteen are yet to be traversed before the troops get to 
its gates. The noble commander, never ostentation.-, 
almost without observation, in the wake of the legions 
with torn vet riving colors headed toward Vicksburg, 
changed his base from Bruninsburg to Grand Gulf. He 
then sent orer the electric wires to Washington the cheer- 
ing news of progress. General Grant's congratulatory 
order to the " Soldiers of the Army of Tennessee," was a 
grateful and glowing tribute of praise. He refers to the 
12 



178 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



hardships endured, the stormy weather, and the horrid 
roads, and closes in these words : 

" More difficulties and privations are before us ; let us 
endure them manfully. Other battles are to be fought ; 
let us fight them bravely. A grateful country will rejoice 
at our success, and history will record it with immortal 
honor." 

Generals Carr, Hovey, Benton, and. Colonels Macau- 
ley, Spiegel, and others, led on the heroic boys with un- 
rivalled valor. 

Naturally enough, Governor Yates, of Illinois, who 
gave our hero his first commission in the conflict, and who 
was on the late battle field, sent to his State the following 
enthusiastic and glowing despatch : 

Grand Gulf, Miss., May 4, 1863. 
Our arms are gloriously triumphant. We have succeeded in win- 
ning a victory which, in its results, must be the most important of 
the war. The battle of May 1st lasted from eight o'clock in the 
morning until night, during all which time the enemy was driven 
back on the right, left, and centre. All day yesterday our army was 
in pursxiit of the rebels, they giving us battle at almost every defen- 
sible point, and fighting with desperate valor. Last night a large 
force of the enemy was driven across Black Kiver, and General 
McClernand was driving another large force in the direction of Wil- 
low Springs. About two o'clock yesterday, I left General Logan, 
with his division, in pursuit of the enemy, to join General Grant at 
Grand Gulf, which the enemy had evacuated in the morning, first 
blowing up their magazines, spiking their cannon, destroying tents, 
&c. On my way to Grand Gulf, I saw guns scattered all along the 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



179 



road, which the enemy had left in their retreat. The rebels were 
scattered through the woods in every direction. This army of the 
rebels was considered, as I now learn, invincible ; but it quailed 
before the irresistible assaults of Northwestern valor. 

I consider Yicksburg as ours in a short time, and the Mississippi 
River as destined to be open from its source to its mouth. 

I have been side by side with our boys in battle, and can bear 
witness to the unfaltering courage and prowess of our brave Illi- 
noisans. 

Richard Yates, Governor. 

The very day this message was dated, the terrible car- 
nage of Chancellorsville, in Virginia, under Hooker, sent 
him and his battalions staggering back to the Rappahan- 
nock, fulfilling strikingly the proverb of Solomon : " He 
hath set adversity over against prosperity. " * 



CHAPTER XV. 




Sherman— Deceiving the Enemy— General Grant's "Wisdom, and humane 
Care of the Men — Ready to move again— Governor Pettus frightened — 
Grant's Despatch— A Battle— The Capital taken— News— Crossing the 
River— The Investment and Assanlt— The Attack repeated— The Siege 
—The Messenger deserts— The Prison Fortress — Amusing Incidents. 

\ UT where was the splendid General Sherman ? — 
V) for lie had few superiors in the field. All this 
time of advance, General Grant's comprehen- 
sive military wisdom was shining in secret war- 
fare. It was no trifling part of the campaign, 
10 keep the rebels at the great centres, Richmond and 
Chattanooga, and, wherever interference .with his plans 
might appear, in the dark. So Sherman was sent up the 
Yazoo River to threaten Haines's Bluff, and Colonel 
Corwyn dashed with his cavalry along the Mobile and 
Ohio Railroad, menacing the posts in that direction. 

There was, at this juncture, some hope that General 
Banks might ascend the river from Baton Rouge, and, 
taking Port Hudson, join General Grant with twelve 
thousand troops. But he was doomed to disappointment, 
and to wait for Grant. 



LIFE OF GrENEBAX GRANT. 



181 



The grand Army of tlie West lias reached a crisis in 
affairs again. Leaving Grand Gulf as a base, the columns 
are to strike for the State capital en route to Vicksburg. 
Our heroic chief seems to lay aside the field command, 
and, with his plain felt hat, soiled clothes, and bearded 
face, superintends the work of preparation. For now, the 
preliminary work of clearing the way being done by light 
marching, the gigantic work of moving the whole caravan 
of a great army has come. To see that the troops have 
shelter, and clothing, and food, is quite as needful to suc- 
cess as arms and amnnmition. He therefore, in person, 
looked after his quartermasters, commissaries, &c, reining 
each man up to duty. This direct and sincere interest in 
the comfort of the soldiers has always won their purest 
respect and regard. 

General Grant takes up his headquarters at an ad- 
vanced position on Black River, called Hawkinson's 
Ferry. All the machinery of warfare is ready. Like a 
couchant lion prepared to spring on his prey, he waits a 
few days for Sherman's corps and the wagon trains to 
arrive ; sending out forces toward other points up „the 
river, making the enemy believe that his plan was to lead 
his army in that direction. 

The game of misleading the rebels succeeded admira- 

Co 

It 

bly. The terrified Governor Pettus issued a flaming 
proclamation, in which these words occur : 

" Fathers, brothers, Mississippians — while your sons 
and kindred are bravely fighting your battles on other 



182 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



fields, and shedding new lustre on your name, the burning 
disgrace of successful invasion of their homes, of insult 
and injury to their wives, mothers, and sisters, of rapine 
and ruin, with God's help and by your assistance, shall 
never be written while a Mississippian lives to feel in his 
proud heart the scorching degradation.'' 

May 7th, General Grant's order to advance flies along 
the lines. Tents disappear, and miles of supply trains fall 
into the wake of the proud battalions, with their front 
toward Vicksburg. With the centre of the three great 
columns, and not behind, General Grant marches, guiding 
and watching their every motion. Soon as he was fairly 
" out to sea," in the mariner's descriptive phrase — cut 
loose from doubtful territory, and committed to the alter- 
native of resplendent conquest or darkest defeat, he told 
the Government so, in the following few words : 

Ix the Field, May 11, 1S63. 
To Major-General Halleck, General-in-Chief: 

My force will be, this evening, as far advanced along Fourteen 
Mile Creek, the left near Black Eiver, and extending in a line nearly 
east* and west, as they can get without bringing on a general en- 
gagement. 

I shall communicate with Grand Gulf no more, except it becomes 
necessary to send a train with a heavy escort. 

You may not hear from me again for several days. 

U. S. Gran't, Major-Gene ral. 

Northeasterly, between him and Jackson, was Ray- 
mond, a rebel position. In the morning of May 12th, 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



183 



having brushed the enemy, disputing the right of way, 
from their path, the Seventeenth Army Corps reached the 
place, and, from the thick woods on the banks of Fou- 
dron's Creek, the rebels poured their fire. Three hours 
of desperate encounter routed them, and they fell back on 
Jackson, many of them throwing down their arms and 
deserting to our lines. "What followed, one of the brave 
fellows finely describes : 

"We encamped at Raymond on Tuesday night, and 
early "Wednesday morning started for Clinton, a small 
town on the Yicksburg and Jackson Railroad. It was 
considered indispensably necessary for the success of our 
movement upon Vicksburg, that we should have posses- 
sion of the railroad and the city of Jackson. We reached 
Clinton at nightfall, and went into camp. 

" During the night, a regiment under the command of 
Captain Tresilian, of General Logan's staff, moved out on 
the railroad east and west of Clinton, and destroyed it, 
tearing up the rails, and burning every bridge and the 
timbers across every cattle guard for four miles each side 
of the village. The telegraph office and the post office 
were seized, and rifled of their precious contents. From 
this source most valuable information of the enemy's 
future movements was obtained. In the express packages 
left by the train of cars which steamed out of town just 
as our advance came in sight, several orders from General 
Johnston were discovered, and a package of Confederate 
scrip. 



184 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" At Clinton, a hundred prisoners were found, occu- 
pants of rebel hospitals. These were paroled, and taken 
in charge by the citizens. 

" At daylight Thursday morning, the army was on the 
road to Jackson, moving in line of battle. A strong 
advance guard was thrown out, and a heavy line of skir- 
mishers on the right and left flank, and thus we moved in 
the direction of the city. 

" All was quiet for the first five or six miles, until we 
reached a hill overlooking a broad open field, through the 
centre of which, and over the crest of the hill beyond 
which, the road to Jackson passes. On the left of this hill 
the enemy had posted his artillery, and along the crest his 
line of battle. From the foot of the acclivity, and not a 
mile removed, we could see the long line of rebel infantry 
awaiting in silence our onset. Slowly and cautiously we 
moved up the hill until we came within range, when all at 
once, upon the heights to the right, we discovered a puff 
of white smoke and heard the report of booming cannon, 
followed by the shrill scream of an exploding shell. One 
of our batteries was moved to the left of a cotton gin in 
the open field, midway between the enemy's line of battle 
and the foot of the hill, and played upon the rebel battery 
with telling effect. The duel was kept up with great 
spirit on both sides for nearly an hour, when all at once it 
ceased by the withdrawal of the enemy's guns. Two 
brigades were thrown out to the right and left of this bat- 
tery, supported by another brigade at proper distance. A 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



1S5 



strong line of skirmishers had been pushed forward and 
posted in a ravine just in front, which protected them from 
rebel fire. After a little delay, they were again advanced 
out of cover, and for several minutes a desultory fire was 
kept up between both lines of skirmishers, in which, 
owing to the topographical nature of the ground, the 
enemy had the advantage. 

" At last, General Crocker, who was on the field, and 
had personally inspected the position, saw that, unless the 
enemy could be driven from his occupation of the crest 
of the hill, he would be forced to retire. He therefore 
ordered a charge along the line. With colors flying, and 
with a step as measured and unbroken as if on dress 
parade, the movement was executed. Slowly they ad- 
vanced, crossed the narrow ravine, and, with fixed bayo- 
nets, rose the crest of the hill in easy range of the rebel 
line. Here they received a tremendous volley, which 
caused painful gaps in their ranks. They held their fire 
until they were within a distance of thirty paces, when 
they delivered the returning volley with fearful effect ; 
and, without waiting to reload their muskets, with a ter- 
rific yell they rushed upon the staggered foe. 

"Over the fences, through the brushwood, into the 
inclosure, they worked their way, and slaughtered right, 
and left without mercy. The enemy, astonished at their 
impetuosity, wavered and fell back, rallied again, and 
finally broke in wild confusion. The brave Union soldiers 
gained the crest of the hill, and the rebels fled in utter 



186 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



terror. Our boys reloaded their muskets, and sent the 
terrible missiles after the fleeing rebels, adding haste to 
their terrified flight. They cast muskets and blankets to 
the ground, unslung their knapsacks, and ran like grey- 
hounds, nor stopped to look back until they reached the 
intrenchments just within the city. 

" Meantime, General Sherman, who had left Raymond 
the day before, and taken the road to the right just 
beyond the town, came up with the left wing of the 
enemy's forces, and engaged them with artillery. They 
made a feeble resistance, and they, too, broke and ran. 

" After a delay of half an hour, to enable our wearied 
soldiers to take breath, our column moved forward again. 

" We reached the fort, and found a magnificent bat- 
tery of six pieces, which the enemy had left behind him, 
and a hundred new tents, awaiting appropriation. 

" The hospital flag was flying from the Deaf and 
Dumb Institute, and this was crowded with sick and 
wounded soldiers, who, of course, fell into our hands as 
prisoners of war. Opposite and all around this building 
were tents enough to encamp an entire division; and just 
in front of it, hauled out by the roadside, were two small 
breech-loading two-pounder rifles, which had been used to 
pick off officers. 

"Farther down the street we found a pile of burning 
caissons ; and on the opposite side of the street, directly 
in front of the Confederate House, the stores, filled with 
commissary and quartermaster's supplies, were briskly 
consuming. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



187 



" Directly in front of us, the State House loomed up 
in ample proportions. Two officers, taking possession of 
the flag of one of the regiments, galloped rapidly forward, 
and hoisted it from the flagstaff surmounting its broad 
dome. The beautiful flag was seen in the distance by the 
advancing column, and with cheers and congratulations it 
was greeted. 

" We had captured Jackson, the* hotbed of the rebel- 
lion. Guards were established, a provost marshal ap- 
pointed, and the city placed under martial law. The citi- 
zens, particularly those who sustained official relations to 
the State and rebel Governments, had left the city the 
evening before : but there were many soldiers left behind, 
and a large number in hospital, who fell into our hands. 

"The State Treasurer and Governor Pettus were gone, 
taking the funds and State papers with them. A large 
amount of Government and military property fell into our 
hands ; but private property was altogether unmolested. 
The offices of the Memphis Appeal and Jackson Missis- 
sippian were removed the preceding night." 

Among the news found in the rebel capital, was the 
clearest evidence that General Joe Johnston .had ordered 
General Pemberton to leave Vicksburg, and fall on the 
rear of General Grant's army. Away hurries a large 
force to Bolton, nearly midway between Jackson and 
Vicksburg, to meet him, more than willing to go halfway. 
General Grant then removed his headquarters to Clinton, 
keeping all the while among the troops in motion. 



188 



LIFE OF GENERAL GEANT. 



Early on the 16th of May, not far from Bolton, the 
armies met at Champion's Hill. It was a fearfully bloody 
fight. Our " boys " charged the flying enemy in the woods, 
covering the ground with the dead. During the engage- 
ment, the Commander-in-chief was on the field, directing 
the swaying host, as it fell crushingly on the changing 
front of the foe. The defeated army retreated to Big 
Black River toward Vicksburg. The Thirteenth and 
Seventeenth Army Corps were in pursuit. 

General Grant is remarkable for u looking ahead " — 
providing for emergencies. In this case, he had sent on a 
force, with a pontoon train, which was ready when Gen- 
eral Sherman, who had been ordered from Bolton, came 
up to cross. While he could go over the stream there, 
with the Fifteenth Army Corps, the passage of the Thir- 
teenth and Seventeenth was disputed, at a railroad bridge 
across the Big Black ; but after a severe combat, in which 
they burned the bridge, the rebels fled. In a single night 
the troops made their floating bridges, and got over. 

Three miles from Vicksburg ! Such was the position 
of Major-General Grant on May 19th, 1863. 

The Fifteenth Army Corps swept round to *he Wal- 
nut Hills, to communicate with Admiral Porter's fleet in 
the Yazoo River. The other corps took strong* positions ; 
in the words of General Grant, " covering all the ground 
their strength would admit of," and fairly investing Vicks- 
burg. Not knowing the exact condition of the fortress, 
he thought the disheartening defeats of the enemy would 
favor an assauK 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



189 



It has already been intimated that Admiral Porter was 
in the Yazoo, near Vicksburg ; but how he got there, is 
the unanswered question. The noble old hero had been 
watching General Grant's progress, pushing up the Yazoo 
as fast as he could cooperate, with that harmony of action 
and patriotic sympathy felt only by noble minds. At 
Haines's Bluff, instead of a battle, the terrified rebels fled 
at his approach. Destroying magazines and much other 
property, he had got within sound of the conqueror's 
guns thundering around Vicksburg. 

The assault was fruitless ; the works were not entered, 
and could not be by storming. But, after two days' 
rest and preparation, establishing supplies north of the 
city, General Grant resolyed to try again. " Can't," in 
any case, he hated to hear. Johnston, who retreated 
when the capital surrendered, might fall on his rear, and 
the troops were impatient to see the interior of the Gi- 
braltar. 

On the 22d of May, with all the generals' watches set 
with General Grant's, that they might move at the same 
moment — at ten o'clock — the bugle call to charge rang 
full and clear on the air of spring. The three army corps, 
led by McClernand, McPherson, and Sherman, under the 
eye of General Grant, dashed forward, the long lines of, 
bayonets gleaming in the yernal sun. Gaps had been 
made by the artillery in the outer walls, and, protected by 
that fire, oyer ditch, ridge, and through a shower of bullets, 
the lines adyanced, planting the Stars and Stripes upon the 



190 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



bastions. Still, the massive circles of defence stood be- 
tween the assailants and the assailed, unshaken, unbroken. 

The brave troops, uncomplainingly, and in good order, 
fell back, to fight again. 

In the lull which succeeded these assaults, arose an 
unhappy dissension in camp. General McClernand issued 
a congratulatory order to his troops, lavishing eulogy upon 
them, and intimating that success would have attended 
their splendid action, if General Grant had sent re enforce- 
ments asked for, and promised, if wanted. Jealousies 
sprang up, and threatening dissension cast a gloom over 
the besieging ranks. General Grant, though warmly 
attached to McClernand, who had been with him since he 
.assumed the control at Cairo, when his friend acknowl- 
edged the order, and defended it, acted promptly for the 
good of the army, and relieved him of his command. 

The rebels, till these waves of the war tide were 
beaten back by their fortress, had seen hard times, as well 
as the Army of Tennessee, whose headquarters once bore 
that name. Leaders are liable to suspicion when their 
enterprises fail ; and it was muttered in the garrison that 
General Pemberton had sold the troops at Champion's 
Hill and Big Black Eiver Bridges. Once sure that his 
hiding place would stand the Yankee storming columns, 
he addressed the men as follows : 

" You have heard that I was incompetent and a 
traitor, and that it was my intention to sell Vicksburg. 
Follow me, and you will see the cost at which I will sell 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



191 



Vicksburg. When the last pound of beef, bacon, and 
flour, the last grain of corn, the last cow, and hog, and 
horse, and dog, shall have been consumed, and the last 
man shall have perished in the trenches, then, and only 
then, will I sell Vicksburg." 

These defiant words were answered with a shout of 
approval ; and General Grant prepared to test their truth 
by slow and patient siege. He was right in supposing 
that the failure to storm, though it cost him valuable lives, 
would make the troops more willing to enter on the siege. 

Vicksburg was surrounded by General Grant's armies, 
excepting partial communication on the left of our lines, 
between General Pemberton and General Johnston, at 
Canton, Miss. From Arkansas, General Herron was 
called, to complete the enclosure of the city by troops. 

There the fated city stands, in the ring of Union can- 
non and bayonets, while the unyielding, taciturn, patient 
commander settles down, the last of May, for a summer 
residence there. If he can continue his visit to Pember- 
ton longer than the latter wishes him to or can stay at 
home, then he will have to leave his castle, and let his out- 
door and unwelcome visitor go in, and help himself to 
what may remain. Subterranean pathways are dug for 
the gunners, and other troops, who thus escape the bullets 
of the sharpshooters. 

Around Vicksburg, our men took what rations they 
could, and then tried to live on the country, which was 
rather hard fare. At one time their movements were so 



192 



LIFE OF GENERAL GEAXT. 



rapid that there was no time to cook, if they had food. 
A hardbread or a corn pone would command a dollar at 
any moment. Some one found a negro with a half peck 
of meal, and six men with bayonets mounted guard over 
the fire while the bread was baking for General Grant's 
luxurious repast. After these privations, one of the 
officers, who was coming down, brought a basket of ale 
to the General and his staff. General Grant expressed his 
thanks, appreciated the kindness, and would just taste it, 
in acknowledgment ; but he drank none, not even ale. 

In repeating some anecdote of General Grant which 
he had heard, a gentleman said : 

" Grant's answer was, with an oath, 1 1 don't believe 
it. It is one of the rebel lies. 1 An officer replied : 1 Xo, 
I do not think he said that. I never heard him utter one 
profane word.' " 

The same officer was speaking of the difference be- 
tween Rosecrans and Grant, in the matter of general- 
ship. On one occasion, during a fight, Rosecrans was 
standing in a commanding position, and giving his orders. 
Suddenly he started, and made toward a regiment to chase 
back one man who was running, and spent some little 
time, in the height of the battle, sending him back to 
his place. Grant, in the midst of fighting, was watching 
intently, and working earnestly, when he was accosted by 
a surgeon. He had taken a fine house for a hospital, and 
had his wounded gathered in and about it, when, in the 
turn of the fight, shot and shell began to fall among the 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



193 



poor fellows. " General," said he, "what shall I do ? 
Some of mv poor men are getting wounded a second 
time."' " Don't come to me," said General Grant, mildly, 
but earnestly ; " I have this battle to fight ; that is your 
business. I can't attend to your wounded, nor think of 
them now. Don't interrupt me ! " waving his hand ; " I 
have this fighting to attend to." 

Providential incidents had their important part in the 
successes of our arms. Among them vas this striking 
one : A young fellow named Douglas, formerly an Illi- 
noisan, who had lived South, and there joined the rebel 
ranks, was sent to Johnston by Pemberton, presuming he 
would seize a horse outside the walls, and ride through the 
pickets to Canton. But, tired of the service of Jeff. 
Davis, he walked to the guard, and delivered himself up 
prisoner of war. General Grant got the message in- 
tended for Johnston. The substance of it was : 

" I have fifteen thousand men at Vicksburg, and 
rations for thirty days — one meal a day. Come to my 
aid with thirty thousand men. Attack Grant in the rear. 
If you cannot do it within ten days, you had better re- 
treat. Ammunition is almost exhausted, particularly per- 
cussion caps." 

A cloud passed over the im Confederacy " with the 
incredible, astounding fact, that General Grant had com- 
pletely outwitted the traitors — gone across their soil, and 
set himself down coolly to watch the boasted Sebastopol, 
making a fearful prison of his enemy's fortress. How 
13 



194 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



fearful it soon became, you can guess from the thousands 
of horses and mules turned out of it because they could 
not be fed. General Grant secured and used many of 
them. 

Singular scenes occur across the lines of the hostile 
armies. Just after Yicksburg was invested, a sharp- 
shooter, from the works, politely asked of one in ours : 

" Can you give a fellow a drink of coffee, if he goes 
there ? " 

"Plenty of it." 

" Well, comrades," says reb., " shall I go ? " 
" Yes ; go ahead." 

The rifleman did go, and, for the first time in a year, 
drank a cup of coffee. 

He lingered, and was evidently in no haste to return. 

" Come back ! " shouted his friends. 

" Think not ; this coffee won't let me. Good-by ! " . 

And the soldier of Yicksburg remained where he 
found " enough and to spare," while his disloyal brethren 
of a common heritage were "in want." 



CHAPTER XVI. 




The captured Courier— Grant and the Letters— The Sappers and Miners- 
How they do their strange Work— All is ready— The Explosion— The 
Advance— The Flag of Truce— The Message, and General Grant's An- 
swer—The Capitulation— The Fourth of July in Vicksburg— The Glad 
Tidings— The Loss and Gain— The President and General Grant— Scenes 
. after the Fall of the Fortress— Bill of Fare— The Dead— Hurrah ! 

}HE days wear away. Ball and shell rush 
through the air at intervals, day and night. 
The gunboats "boom" away in front, and the 
batteries of the army in the rear. General 
Grant had sent troops to watch Joe Johnston, 
who, it was reported, was near the Big Black Eiver, and 
advancing with a large force. 

It is night. And see that rebel soldier creeping in the 
darkness stealthily from the solid ramparts, and through 
the lines of Union pickets. He now feels safe. But 
there come some wide-awake u Yankee boys," and his 
career as courier is over. The messenger's secreted letters 
are demanded, and handed over. They are addressed 
to home friends, and express discouragement, with the 
hope that Johnston would come to their relief. Some of 
them, who may have been Christian men in spite of the 



196 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



horrible secession delusion, declared their resignation to 
God, and their trust in Him. 

General Grant wrote to General Sherman, command- 
ing tie forces against Johnston, and, referring to these 
epistles of the rebels, said : 

" They seem to put a great deal of faith in the Lord 
and Joe Johnston ; but you must whip Johnston at least 
fifteen miles from here." 

But " Joe " kept out of the way, and the siege of 
Vicksburg went forward. The hardest work was done by 
the sappers and miners. Let us take a look at them. 
You notice those soldiers keeping guard, here and 
there, in line with and near the frowning walls of the 
fortress. Go nearer, and you will see "Welsh, Scotch, 
English, and Irish miners digging saps, or trenches, 
leading toward a common point close to the walls of 
the fort. By the side of them rise gabions, or some- 
thing like towers, to defend the workmen. To get to 
the main sap leading to the mine, which is a large square 
ditch running under the fortress walls, in which the pow 
der is to be put, the men must go nearly an eighth of 
a mile right before the enemy's guns. To do this alive, 
trenches are dug one after the other, in such directions — 
but all making a general passage way — that the shot and 
shell cannot reach the workmen and officers, as they go 
and come. 

The guards we alluded to allow none to pass but the 
miners, and the few chief officers. Sharpshooters lie in 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 



197 



the trenches to pick off the rebels who venture to look 
from their battlements and see what is going on below. 
Occasionally a battery^ is put in position to aid in the 
defence. The heaps of dirt thrown up, also, are a protec- 
tion. Now, having got a "pass," go into the trenches 
and wind along the damp pathways, venturing now and 
then to glance at the bristling walls no more than fifteen 
feet from you, as yon approach that deep, dark opening 
downward, and under the massive ramparts. A frame- 
work of timber around this mine keeps back the crum- 
bling earth which the projectiles have broken away from 
the works, and gabions and boxes defend the entrance to 
the magazine of destruction. 

Listen, now. " Pick ! pick ! " go the instruments of 
delving ; then the grinding sound of the shovels is heard. 
The air is spectral, for most of the work is done in the 
night. 

It is June 25th ; the day has faded, and the miners 
dig with rapid strokes, for a few hours will finish the 
strange, wild, dark business, which the busy, fertile brain 
of General Grant has carried forward with his wise 
secrecy of purpose. Hark ! the pickaxes and spades are 
held in mute alarm. The enemy is at work too, sinking 
his shaft toward our own. The men rush away, fearing 
an explosion ; but now return again to complete the ruin. 

Such is a mere glimpse of the perilous, gloomy, awful 
preparation to blow into fragments hostile battlements, 
and with them scores, perhaps hundreds of men, into 
eternity. Writes an eyewitness : 



193 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" Everything was finished. The spark has been 
applied, and the now harmless flashes went hurrying to the 
centre. The troops had been withdrawn. The forlorn 
hope — or troops detailed to rush into the breach — stood 
out in plain view, boldly awaiting the uncertainties of the 
precarious office. A chilling sensation ran through the 
frame as an observer looked down upon this devoted band, 
about to hurl itself into the breach — perchance into the 
jaws of death. Thousands of men in arms flashed on 
every hill, Every one was speechless. Even men of 
tried valor — veterans insensible to the shouts of contend- 
ing battalions, or nerved to the shrieks of comrades suffer- 
ing under the torture of painful agonies — stood motionless 
as they directed their eyes upon the spot where soon the 
terror of a buried agency would discover itself in wild 
concussions and contortions, carrying annihilation to all 
within the scope of its tremendous power. It - was the 
seeming torpor which precedes the antagonism of power- 
ful bodies. Five minutes had elapsed. It seemed like an 
existence. Five minutes more, and yet no signs of the 
expected exhibition. An indescribable sensation of impa^ 
tience, blended with a still active anticipation, ran through 
the assembled spectators. A small pall of smoke now 
discovered itself; every one thought the crisis had come, 
and almost saw the terrific scene which the mind had 
depicted. But not yet. Every eye now centred upon 
the smoke, momentarily growing greater and greater. 
Thus another five minutes wore away, and curiosity was 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



199 



not satisfied. Another few minutes, then the explosion ; 
and upon the horizon could be seen an enormous column 
of earth, dust, timbers, and projectiles lifted into the air at 
an altitude of at least eighty feet. One entire face of the 
fort was disembodied and scattered in particles all over 
the surrounding surface. The right and left faces were 
also much damaged ; but, fortunately, enough of them 
remained to afford an excellent protection on our flanks. 

" No sooner had the explosion taken place, than the 
two detachments acting as the forlorn hope ran into the 
fort and sap, as already mentioned. A brisk musketry 
fire at once commenced between the two parties, with 
about equal effect upon either side. No sooner had these 
detachments become well engaged, than the rest of Leg- 
gett's Brigade joined them, and entered into the struggle. 
The regiments relieving each other at intervals, the con- 
test now grew severe ; both sides, determined upon hold- 
ing their own, were doing their best. Volley after volley 
was fired, though with less carnage than would be sup- 
posed. The Forty-fifth Illinois charged immediately up to 
the crest of the parapet, and here suffered its heaviest, 
losing many officers in the assault. 

"After a severe contest of half an hour, with varying 
results, the flag of the Forty-fifth appeared upon the sum- 
mit of the work. The position was gained. Cheer after' 
cheer broke through the confusion and uproar of the con- 
test, assuring the troops everywhere along the line that 
the Forty-fifth was still itself. The colonel was now left 



200 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



alone in command of the regiment, and he was himself 
badly bruised by a flying splinter. The regiment had also 
suffered severely in the line, and the troops were worn out 
by excessive heat and hard fighting. 

" The explosion of the mine was the signal for the 
opening of the artillery of the entire line. The left 
division of General McPherson's Seventeenth, or centre 
corps, opened first, and discharges were repeated along the 
left through General Ord's Thirteenth Corps, and Her- 
ron's extreme 1 left division,' until the sound struck the 
ear like the mutterings of distant thunder. General Sher- 
man, on the right, also opened his artillery about the same 
time, and occupied the enemy's attention along his front. 
Every shell struck the parapet, and, bounding over, ex- 
ploded in the midst of the enemy's forces beyond. The 
scene at this time was one of the utmost sublimity. The 
roar of artillery, rattle of small arms, the cheers of the 
men, flashes of light, wreaths of pale blue smoke over 
different parts of the field, the bursting of shell, the fierce 
whistle of solid shot, the deep 'boom 1 of the mortars, the 
broadsides of the ships of war, and, added to all this, the 
vigorous replies of the enemy, set up a din which beggars 
all description. The peculiar configuration of the field 
afforded an opportunity to witness almost every battery 
and every rifle pit within seeing distance ; and it is due to 
all the troops .to say, that every one did his duty. 

"After the possession of the fort was no longer in 
doubt, the pioneer corps mounted the work, with their 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



201 



shovels, and set to throwing up earth vigorously in order 
to secure space for artillery. A most fortunate peculiarity 
in the explosion, was the manner in which the earth was 
thrown out. The appearance of the place was that of a 
funnel, with heavy sides running up to the very crest of 
the parapet, affording admirable protection not only for our 
troops and pioneers, but turned out a ready-made fortifica- 
tion in the rough, which, with a slight application of the 
shovel and pick, was ready to receive the guns to be used 
at this point. 

" Miraculous as it may seem, amid all the fiery ordeal 
of this afternoon's engagement, one hundred killed and 
two hundred wounded is a large estimate of casualties on 
our side. 

" From a lookout on the summit of an eminence near 
the rebel works, the movements of the enemy could be 
plainly watched. An individual in the tower, just prior 
to the explosion of the mine, saw two rebel regiments 
marching out to the fort. Of a sudden — perhaps upon 
seeing the smoke of the fuse — the troops turned about 
and ran toward the town in perfect panic. They were 
not seen again during the fight ; but other regiments were 
brought up to supply their place." * 

Another gives the following brief sketch of the explo- 
sion : 

" This morning the work was completed ; an immense 



* De R, R. Keirn. 



202 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



quantity of gunpowder was stored in the cavity prepared 
to receive it, and the fuse train was laid. At noon, the 
different regiments of the Seventeenth Corps selected to 
make the assault upon the breach when it should have 
been effected, were marshalled in long lines upon the near 
slopes of the hills immediately confronting the doomed 
rebel fortifications, where, disposed for the attack, they 
impatiently awaited the denotement. The rebels seemed 
to discover that some movement was on foot ; for, from 
the moment our troops came into position until the explo- 
sion took place, their sharpshooters kept up an incessant- 
fire from the whole line of their works. 

" At length all was in readiness ; the fuse train was 
fired, and it went fizzing and popping through the zigzag 
line of trenches, until for a moment it vanished. Its dis- 
appearance was quickly succeeded by the explosion, and 
the mine was sprung. So terrible a spectacle is seldom 
witnessed. Dust, dirt, smoke, gabions, stockades, timber, 
gun carriages, logs — in fact, everything connected with the 
fort — rose hundreds of feet into the air, as if vomited forth 
from a volcano. Some who were close spectators even 
say that they saw the bodies of the poor wretches 
who, a moment before, had lined the ramparts of the 
work." * 

" As soon as the explosion had taken place, the great- 
est activity was manifested along the whole line, under 



* Fitzpatrick's despatch. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



203 



the soul-inspiring orders of General Grant. The follow- 
ing is a specimen of the emphatic style with which that 
General calls for vigilance on the part of his troops : 

June 25, 1S63. 

General Ord : 

McPherson occupies the crater made by the explosion. He will 
have guns in battery there by morning. He has been hard at work 
runniDg rifle pits right, and thinks he will hold all gained. Keep 
Smith's division sleeping under arms to-night, ready for an emer- 
gency. Their services may be required particularly about daylight. 
There should be the greatest vigilance along the whole line. 

TJ. S. Grant, Major- General. 

u In the meantime, the gunboat fleet off Warrenton 
commenced a bombardment of the enemy's forts. This 
was kept up without intermission until midnight, when it 
was slackened to desultory shots. The fuses of the shells, 

J 7 

as they ascended in the air, were easily distinguishable, 
and looked in their course like shooting meteors. TThen 
they would strike, the shell would explode with a terrific 
report. Some of the shells exploded in the air, and the 
flashes which they emitted looked like an immense piece 
of pyrotechny." * 

And now, more rapidly the lines of General Grant 
approached the fortress. He felt sure of the prize, and' 
was willing to continue the siege, rather than, by bolder 



* Larkee. 



204 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



and immediately successful assault, sacrifice many lives, 
among them the women and children in the city. General 
Grant is humane ; he values human life, and never flings it 
away for glory ; a high, and, in its excellence, a Christian 
quality of character. 

The rebels, who a few weeks before were defiant, now 
crowded closely together, and in dread awaited the hour 
of doom. 

The Fourth of July was at hand ! General Grant 
had not forgotten it ; and there were signs of its celebra- 
tion by a grand entree ; at least, an attempt to keep Inde- 
pendence Day in the city. 

July 3d lights up the beleaguered fortress, and from 
the walls emerge two rebel generals, Bowen and Mont- 
gomery, and over them waves a flag of truce. They 
enter our lines with a sealed message. Away flies a 
courier to General Grant. The calm, expectant com- 
mander, who for several months had in anticipation seen 
this hour, breaks the seal, and reads a proposition from 
General Pemberton for an armistice, that terms of capitu- 
lation may be arranged. That proud officer boasted that 
he could hold out as long as he pleased, but wished to " save 
further effusion of blood." Entirely characteristic of the 
brave, magnanimous man, was the answer of Genera] 
Grant : 

" The effusion of blood you propose stopping by this 
course, can be ended at any time you may choose, by an 
unconditional surrender of the city and garrison. Men 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



205 



who have shown so much endurance and courage as those 
now in Vicksburg, will always challenge the respect of an 
- adversary, and, I can assure you, will be treated with all 
the respect due them as prisoners of war. I do not favor 
the proposition of appointing commissioners to arrange 
terms of capitulation, because I have no other terms than 
those indicated above." 

The next proposal is, to meet General Pemberton at 
three o'clock p. m., on neutral ground, and consult to- 
gether. General Grant consents, and sends the blindfold 
messengers back. Mr. Keim, a New York correspondent 
of the press, graphically describes what followed : 

" At three o'clock precisely, one gun, the prearranged 
signal, was fired, and immediately replied to by the 
enemy. General Pemberton then made his appearance on 
the works in McPherson's front, under a white flag, con- 
siderably on the left of what is known as Fort Hill. Gen- 
eral Grant rode through our trenches until he came to an 
outlet leading to a small green space which had not been 
trod by either army. Here he dismounted, and advanced 
to meet General Pemberton, with whom he shook hands, 
and greeted familiarly. 

" It was beneath the outspreading branches of a 
gigantic oak that the conference of the generals took 
place. Here presented the only space which had not been 
used for some purpose or other by the contending armies.. 
The ground was covered with a fresh, luxuriant verdure ; 
here and there a shrub or clump of bushes could be seen 



206 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

standing out from the green growth on the surface, while 
several oaks filled up the scene, and gave it character. 
Some of the trees, in their tops, exhibited the effects of 
flying projectiles, by the loss of limbs or torn foliage, and 
in their trunks the indentations of smaller missiles plainly 
marked the occurrences to which they had been silent 
witnesses. 

k> The party made up to take part in the conference 
was composed as follows : 

Unite:. Stares o nicer s : Major-General U. S. Grant, 
Major-General James B. McPherson, Brigadier-General A. 
J. Smith. 

" Rebel officers : Lieutenant-General John C. Pem- 
berton, Major-General Bowen, Colonel Montgomery. A. 
A.-G. to General Pemberton. 

" When Generals Grant and Pemberton met, they 
shook hands. Colonel Montgomery introducing the party. 
A short silence ensued, at the expiration of which Gen- 
eral Pemberton remarked : 

" 1 General Grant, I meet you in order to arrange 
terms for the capitulation of the city of Vicksburg and its 
garrison. "VThat terms do you demand ? ' 

1 Unconditional surrender ) replied General Grant. 

u 1 Unconditional surrender ! ' said Pemberton. 1 Never, 
so long as I have a mas left me ! I will fight rather.' 

" 1 Then, sir, you can continue the defence,' coolly said 
General Grant. ! My army has never been in a better 
condition for the prosecution of the siege.' 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



207 



" During the passing of these few prehminaries, Gen- 
eral Pemberton was greatly agitated, quaking from head 
to foot ; while General Grant experienced all his natural 
self-possession, and evinced not the least sign of embar- 
rassment. 

"After a short conversation standing, by a kind of 
mutual tendency the two generals wandered off from the 
rest of the party, and seated themselves on the grass, in a 
cluster of bushes, where, alone, they talked over the im- 
portant events then pending. General Grant could be 
seen, even at that distance, talking coolly, occasionally 
giving a few puffs at his favorite companion — his black 
cigar. General McPherson, General A. J. Smith, Gen- 
eral Bowen, and Colonel Montgomery, imitating the ex- 
ample of the commanding generals, seated themselves at 
some distance off, while the respective staffs of the gen- 
erals formed another and larger group in the rear. 

" After a lengthy conversation, the generals separated. 
General Pemberton did not come to any conclusion on the 
matter, but stated his intention to submit the matter to a 
council of general officers of his command ; and, in the 
event of their assent, the surrender of the city should be 
made in the morning. Until morning was given him to 
consider, to determine the matter, and send in his final 
reply." 

After a consultation with his officers, he sent to Gen- 
eral Pemberton this answer : 



208 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Headquarters, Department of Tennessee, ; 

Near Vicksburg, July 3, 1863. \ 

Lieutenant General J. C. Pemberton, commanding Confederate 
forces, Vicksburg, Miss. : 

General : In conformity with the agreement of this afternoon, I 
will submit the following proposition for the surrender of the city of 
Vicksburg, public stores, &c. On your accepting the terms proposed, 
I will march in on^division, as a guard, and take possession at eight 
o'clock to-morrow morning. As soon as paroles can be made out and 
signed by the officers and men, you will be allowed to march out of 
our lines, the officers taking with them their regimental clothing, and 
staff, field, and cavalry officers one horse each. The rank and file 
will be allowed all their clothing, but no other property. 

If these conditions are accepted, any amount of rations you may 
deem necessary can be taken from the stores you now have, and also 
the necessary cooking utensils for preparing them ; thirty wagons, 
also, counting two two-horse or mule teams as one. You will be 
allowed to transport such articles as cannot be carried along. The 
same conditions will be allowed to all sick and wounded officers and 
privates, as fast as they become able to travel. The paroles for these 
latter must be signed, however, whilst officers are present, authorized 
to sign the roll of prisoners. 

I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

After further correspondence, in which slight modifica- 
tions were made at the request of General Pemberton, he 
sent his note of surrender to General Grant, dated July 
4th, 1863. 

Since the negotiation began, firing had ceased. Silent 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



209 



curiosity took possession of the men. They collected in 
groups, walked, talked, and wondered what next. 

The glorious Fourth was bright as the hopes of our 
chieftain and his braves, whose patient labor and siege was 
crowned with brilliant success. Like a bow strained to its 
utmost tension, and then unbent, the comprehensive mind 
of General Grant, and all hearts, were relieved from a 
long and wearing interest and anxiety. 

But mark the crowning quality, as a commander, of 
General Grant — perseverance. Amid the very joy of the 
victory, and the excitement of preparation to enter Vicks- 
burg, he formed and mentioned his plan to pursue and 
crush, if possible, General Joe Johnston. He was resolved 
to follow up the conquest, and hasten after the enemy 
outside the walls over which the national ensign would be 
waving in a few moments. 

Before noon, white flags fluttered in the breeze along 
the battlements of the fort. Then, regiment after regi- 
ment of the rebels marched out, stacking their arms — a 
privilege General Grant magnanimously granted them, 
and without the usual attendance of a superintending 
officer. The truly great never meanly triumph over a 
prostrate foe. March ! march ! rattle ! rattle ! goes the 
! musketry into glittering pyramids for three long hours. 

At one o'clock the Union army, with the unruffled, 
plain, modest Grant at the head of it, began to move into 
Vicksburg. The brilliant staffs, the bands playing, the 
banners flying, and the columns of happy troops, made a 
14 



210 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



spectacle rarely seen in the world. They poured into the 
city in steel-crested, glittering tides, till the old camps were 
all deserted. Then, from the Court House, how grandly 
the old flag floated on the sunny air ! 

Where is Admiral Foote ? Look up the broad river, 
and you will know. He has been watching for the signal, 
and now he. catches a glimpse of the Stars and Stripes, 
and down the flagship steams, followed by the procession 
of gunboats, cutting the foam, with pennants flying, and 
music rising over their wake ; and soon all nestle under 
the friendly walls. 

The rebel loss in the entire campaign of Vicksburg, 
in killed, wounded, stragglers, and in hospitals, was esti- 
mated at over forty-six thousand ; and in arms, large and 
small, forty-five thousand pieces. The Union loss wa3 
only about eight thousand. 

The loss of Vicksburg was a stunning blow, in the 
effect every way upon the enemy ; and to us a glorious 
encouragement. It opened the Mississippi, and cut the 
rebel territory in two, fatally. The great West was hope- 
lessly gone from the grasp of the foe. 

Telegrams never flew faster on lightning wing, than 
those which carried the tidings of the fall of Vicksburg. 
The cities and prairies of the West sent up the shout of 
enthusiastic joy. The loyal East echoed back the glad- 
ness. When the despatch reached the honest President, 
he acknowledged General Grant's genius and splendid 
strategy, in the following message : 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



211 



Executive Mansion, Washington, July 13, 1S63. 
To Major-General Grant : 

My dear General : I do not remember that you and I ever met 
personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the 
almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say 
a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Yicksburg, I 
thought you should do what you finally did — march the troops across 
the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below ; 
and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew bet- 
ter than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition, and the like, could suc- 
ceed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and 
vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join General 
Banks ; and when you turned northward east of the Big Black, I 
feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make a personal acknowledg- 
ment that you were right and I was wrong. 

Yours, very truly, A. Lincoln. 

Abraham Lincoln was not ashamed to acknowledge 
that General Grant was " too smart for him." However 
good the intentions at "Washington, we shall never know 
what meddling there with army command has cost the 
country. The President's letter shows what it might have 
done for General Grant. 

Mr. Lincoln is a thorough temperance man. But 
when, after Yicksburg fell, some of the complaining gen- 
tlemen called on him, between them and himself an 
amusing conversation occurred : 

" So I understand Grant drinks whiskey to excess? "' 
interrogatively remarked the President. 

"Yes," was the reply. 



212 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" "What whiskey does he drink ? " inquired Mr. Lin- 
coln. 

" What whiskey ? " doubtfully queried his hearers. 

" Yes. Is it Bourbon, or Monongahela ? " 

" Why do you ask, Mr. President ? " 

" Because, if it makes him win victories like this at 
Vicksburg, I will send a demijohn of the same kind to 
every general in the army." 

The visitors had no more to say about General Grant's 
dissipation. It has been stated that he entered Vicksburg 
with his cherished cigar in his mouth. A writer of doubt- 
ful loyalty well said : 

" We pardon General Grant's smoking a cigar as he 
entered the smouldering ruins of the town of Vicksburg;. 
A little stage effect is admissible in great captains, con- 
sidering that Napoleon at Milan wore the little cocked hat 
and sword of Marengo, and that snuff was the inevitable 
concomitant of victory in the great Frederick. General 
Grant is a noble fellow, and, by the terms of capitulation 
he accorded to the heroic garrison, showed himself as 
generous as Napoleon was to Wurmser at the surrender 
of Mantua. His deed will read well in history, and he 
has secured to himself a name which posterity will pro- 
nounce with veneration and gratitude. There is no gen- 
eral in this country, or in Europe, that has clone harder 
work than General Grant, and none that has better graced 
his victories by the exercise of humanity and virtue. 
What we learn of the terms of capitulation, is sufficient to 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



213 



prove General Grant to be a generous soldier and a man. 
A truly brave man respects bravery in others, and, when 
the sword is sheathed, considers himself free to follow the 
dictates of humanity. General Grant is not a general that 
marks his progress by proclamations to frighten unarmed 
men, women, and children ; he fulminates no arbitrary 
edicts against the press ; he does not make war on news- 
papers and their correspondents : he flatters no one to get 
himself puffed ; but he is terrible in arms, and magnani- 
mous after the battle. Go on, brave General Grant ; pur- 
sue the course you have marked out for yourself ; and 
Clio, the pensive muse, as she records your deeds, will 
rejoice at her manly theme." 

An Iowa surgeon found a curious bill of fare in the 
rebel camp, a part of which is given, to show how near 
famine the troops were : 

HOTEL DE VICKSBURG. 
BILL OF FARE FOR JULY, 1863. 
SOUP. 

Mule tail. 

BOILED. 

Mule bacon with poke greens. 
Mule ham canvassed. 



ROAST. 

Mule sirloin, &c. 



214 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Passing over similar dishes, we come to 



DESSERT. 



"White-oak acorns. 
Beech nuts. 



Blackberry leaf tea. 
Genuine Confederate coffee. 



In a " Card," it is added : 

Parties arriving by the river, or Grant's inland route, will find 
Grape, Canister & Co.'s carriages at the landing, or any depot on the 
line of intrenchments. 

One who was there, wrote : 

ii Pemberton was, of course, the chief attraction. He 
is in appearance a tall, lithe-built and stately personage. 
Black hair, black eyes, full beard, and rather severe if not 
sinister expression cf countenance, as of one who had 
great trials of the soul to endure." 

This general was a Philadelphian, but married a 
Southern lady, and so became a secessionist. The same 
observer adds : 

" The greatest curiosities are the caves hewn into the 
banks of earth, in which the women and children, and 
non-combatants, crept during the heat of the bombard- 
ment. At night, and sometimes during an entire day, the 
whole of these people would be confined to their caverns. 
They are constructed about the height of a man, and 
three feet wide, a fork V shaped into the bank. There 
are, perhaps, five hundred of these caves in the city 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



215 



around the works. As many as fifteen have been crowd- 
ed into one of them." 

A highly cultivated and Christian lady, who lived in 
one of these caves, with no words of bitterness, has. given 
a very interesting account of her captivity. They were 
dug, at first, with their mouths, or doors, opening toward 
the rear of the city, and away from the gunboats. And 
when General Grant so arranged his batteries that the 
shells came from that side, often they exploded right in 
the caves. One day, near her, a shell went crushing 
through the roof of a neighbor's cell, and tore in frag- 
ments her sleeping babe. What an awful life of sus- 
pense ! Even the moonlight evening, bathing rampart, 
deserted mansion, and cave, with soothing radiance, was 
no protection. She saw a scene, after Burbridge's charge, 
which she thought looked, after all, as if the millennium 
might be near. A wounded Confederate was lying nearer 
to our troops than his own. He looked and begged for 
water. The air was full of death's missiles. But a noble 
Union soldier stepped forward, and, taking his canteen, 
went to the sufferer, and, while he fanned him, gave him 
the cooling draught. 

Beautiful and touching spectacle ! A little of Heav- 
en's pure light athwart the sulphurous gloom of war ! 

Here, my young reader, is a true picture of the dead 
of Vicksburg : 

" They lay in all positions ; some with musket grasped, 
as though still contending ; others with cartridge in the 



216 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



fingers, just ready to put the deadly charge where it might 
meet the foe. All ferocity had gone. A remarkably 
sweet and youthful face was that of a rebel boy. Scarce 
eighteen, and as fair as a maiden, with quite small hands, 
long hair of the pale golden hue that auburn changes to, if 
much in the sun, and curling at the ends. He had a shirt 
of coarse white cotton, and brown pants well worn ; while 
upon his feet were a woman's shoes about the size known 
as 1 fours. 1 His left side was torn by a shell, and his left 
shoulder shattered. Two men, who had caught at a fig 
tree to assist them up a steep embankment, lay dead at 
his feet, slain, in all probability, by an enfilade from their 
right ; the branch at which they caught was still in their 
grasp. Several were headless, others were armless ; but 
the manner of their death was always plain. The Minie 
left its large, rather clear hole ; the shell its horrid rent ; 
the shrapnel and grape their clear, great gashes, as though 
one had thrust a giant's spear through the tender quiver- 
ing flesh. In one trench lay two, grasping the same 
weapon — friend and foe. Across their hands fell a vine, 
the end upon the breast of a rebel, where it had fallen 
with them from an elevation above, the roots still damp 
with the fresh earth ; upon it was a beautiful passion 
flower in full bloom, and two buds ; the buds were stained 
with blood — the flower as bright as was the day when the 
morning stars sang together. On the faces of both was 
the calm that follows sleep — rather pale, perhaps, but 
seeming like him of old, of whom it is said, 1 He is not 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



217 



dead, but sleepeth.' But ah, the crimson ! All is not 
well when the earth is stained with blood. In some 
places the dead were piled, literally, like sacks of grain 
upon the shore. 

" It is remarkable with what patience the fatally 
wounded — they who already stood upon the shore — bore 
their sufferings. Some knew that they could not recover, 
but bore it manfully. Sometimes a tear, and a low voice 
would say, 1 My sweet wife ! 1 or 1 Darling ! ' 1 Mother ! ' 
or 1 God forgive ! ' — a quiver — then, all was over." 

Notwithstanding such havoc, and the mourning homes, 
the poet, Alfred B. Street, with many other bards, ex- 
pressed the national rejoicing, and the grateful admiration 
of Grant : 

Vicksburg is ours ! 

Hurrah ! 
Treachery cowers ! 
Hurrah ! 
Down reels the rebel rag ! 
Up shoots the starry flag ! 

^ ^ 

Vicksburg is ours ! 

Hurrah ! 
Arch the green bowers ! 
Hurrah ! 
Arch o'er the hero, who 
Nearer and nearer drew, 
Letting wise patience sway, 
Till, from his brave delay, 



218 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Swift as the lightning's ray, 
Bounded he to the fray, 
Full on his fated prey ; 

Thundering upon his path, 
Swerving not, pausing not, 
Darting steel, raining shot, 
In his fierce onset, hot 

With his red battle wrath ; 
Flashing on, thundering on ; 
Pausing then once again, 
Curbing with mighty rein, 
All his great heart, as vain 
Writhed the fierce foe, the chain 
Tighter and tighter round, 
Till the reward was found — 
Till the dread work was done — 
Till the grand wreath was won. 
Triumph is ours ! 
Hurrah ! 



CHAPTER XVIT. 



The Eastern Army— Port Hudson falls— The " Father of Waters " open- 
Joe Johnston pursued — Jeff. Davis's Library found— Jackson surren- 
ders — General Grant's care of his Soldiers — His Politics — Anecdotes — 
Looks after his Department — Mrs. Grant visits him— General Grant 
goes to Memphis— A splendid Reception. 




EANWHILE, the battle was raging in the 
East. There, too, the army was covered with 
glory. Almost the very hour that Vicksburg 
falls, General Meade, at the head of his battal- 
ions, beats back the most threatening tide of 



secession, under Lee, which had ever overswept the bor- 
der of the Free States. The terrific and glorious field of 
Gettysburg, Pa., is won, the national honor saved, and the 
invader sent, stunned and bleeding, back within his lines. 
Memorable Fourth of July indeed to the war-scarred 
land ! The country was wild with joy amid showers of 
tears for the slain. But let as look down the Mississippi 
again. 

The morning sun of July 7th floods the " Father of 
"Waters." Hark ! how the naval lions roar on the bright 
waters ! Peal after peal reverberates along the green shores. 



220 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



The rebel garrison of Port Hudson, whose guns are silent, 
wonder at the sound, the interludes of which were cheers 
of wildest rejoicing. They listen all day, and, as the 
evening approaches, their curiosity could endure the strange 
demonstration no longer. At one of the points, where 
the armies were within speaking distance, a rebel officer 
* called out ; 

" What are you making all that noise about ? " 

Union officer. 11 We have taken Vicksburg." 

Relet. " Don't believe it." 

Union officer. u What will convince you ? " 

Rebel. 11 Nothing but the copy of the despatch, or 
some reliable authority." 

Union officer. " Well, I'll get a copy, and pass it over 
the parapet." 

Rebel. 11 If you'll do that, and vouch for its genuine- 
ness on your honor as a gentleman and a soldier, I'll be- 
lieve it." 

The Union man soon furnished the evidence required, 
copied in his own hand. 

The rebel took it, and read it, saying : 

"I am satisfied. It is useless for us to hold out 
longer." 

Meanwhile, General Grant had managed to have a 
message to General Banks intercepted by the enemy, con- 
veying the same intelligence. General Frank Gardiner 
sent to the latter to know if it were true that Vicksburg 
had surrendered. When assured it was, he, too, pulled 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



221 



down the rebel flag, and ours was run up instead. This 
cleared the Mississippi, from its head waters to the Gulf of 
Mexico. 

But what, meanwhile, has Johnston been doing, whom 
we left hovering in the distance around Vicksburg, impa- 
tient to help the beleaguered army ? Foiled in his designs 
by the sleepless vigilance of General Grant, he had chafed 
like a caged lion in the toils, quite as thoroughly besieged 
in the open field as his fellow traitors within the city. 
And now General Sherman, by General Grant's order, 
moved toward him, animated by the recent victories. The 
desperate and startled general expressed his alarm in the 
following proclamation : 

Fellow Soldiers : An insolent foe, flushed with hope by his 
recent success at Yicksburg, confronts you, threatening the people, 
whose homes and liberty you are here to protect, with plunder and 
conquest. Their guns may even now be heard as they advance. 

The enemy it is at once the duty and the mission of you, brave 
men, to chastise and expel from the soil of Mississippi. The com- 
manding general confidently relies on you to sustain his pledge, 
which he makes in advance, and he will be with you in the good 
work, even unto the end. 

The rebel general re occupied Jackson, the capital of 
Mississippi, and waited for Sherman's advance. On, free-, 
dom's volunteers swept, till they reached Pearl Eiver, run- 
ning through the city ; and, extending the lines in a broad 
curve, they nearly encircled the city with walls of armed 
men. 



222 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



July 11th, troops detailed to forage in the country 
near — i. e., seek supplies on the enemy's soil — accidentally 
found in an old building, carefully packed away, a large 
library, and various mementos of friendship. A glance 
revealed the owner. A gold-headed cane bore the in- 
scription, " To Jefferson Davis from Franklin Pierce.'' 
Precious plunder ! The arch traitor has hidden in the 
quiet country, and in a place which could awaken no sus- 
picion, his valuable library, correspondence, and articles of 
cherished regard. The excited troopers soon get into the 
book pile, and volumes, heaps of letters, and handsome 
canes, are borne as trophies (a new kind of forage) to 
headquarters. Secession is discussed in many letters, by 
Northern friends of the treasonable leader, and his right 
to that proud distinction freely granted. 

Added to this capture, the railways on every side of 
the city were destroyed, and hundreds of cars taken from 
the Confederacy. 

The twilight hour of July 16th brought to a projection 
of the works rebel bands of music, insulting our troops 
with " Bonnie Blue Flag," " My Maryland/*' " Dixie's 
Land," and other airs perverted to the service of treason. 
The next morning's dawn gave signs of a retreating foe. 
The " fighting Joe Johnston " had stolen away, leaving all 
over Jackson the marks of ruin. The day before — July 
15th — the President issued a proclamation for national 
thanksgiving on the 6 th day of August, for the recent 
victories. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



223 



A little affair, about this time, illustrated the honesty 
and humanity of General Grant. The steamboat compa- 
nies, like other vultures preying upon every department 
of the great army, charged the soldiers from fifteen to 
thirty dollars fare from Cairo to Yicksburg, when from 
one third to a quarter of the sum would have been a large 
demand. One day, the steamer " Hope " touched at 
Yicksburg. The decks were covered with the brave 
volunteers, homeward bound from the late hard service, on 
a brief furlough. There were twelve hundred bronzed 
heroes, of whom nearly a quarter were officers. General 
Grant was informed that the captain had charged them 
from ten to twenty-five dollars each. Calling an officer, 
lie said : 

" Take a guard, and order that captain to refund to 
enlisted men the excess of five dollars, and of seven dol- 
lars to the officers ; or he'll be arrested, and his boat con- 
fiscated.'' 

The captain listened, and looked with amazement. 
The armed guard convinced him it was useless to resist. 
He put on an air of injured innocence in the extortion, 
and out with his pocketbook. The money was counted 
and paid over, amid the shouts of the troops huzzaing 
for Grant, the soldier's friend. 

He remarked to those about him : 

''I will teach them, if they need the lesson, that the 
men who have perilled their lives to open the Mississippi 
Kiver for their benefit, cannot be imposed upon with 
impunity." 



224 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



This considerate, magnanimous regard to the interests 
of the abused soldiers, is one of the most pleasing, attrac- 
tive features of General Grant's character. It 'wins con- 
fidence from the humblest volunteer in his command. 

The General is no politician, if that word means more 
than a loyal citizen. Like all conspicuous men, especially 
in the civil war of our country, in which politics — by 
which you will understand party success and office-seek- 
ing — have been a deadly poison, corrupting and threaten- 
ing the very life of the nation, he was not unfrequently 
approached on the subject by the " wire-pullers." A good 
story or two went abroad from his headquarters at Vicks- 
burg. Professed political friends paid him a visit, and, 
after a short time spent in compliments, they touched upon 
the never-ending subject of politics. One of the party 
was in the midst of a very flowery speech, using all his 
rhetorical powers to induce the General, if possible, to 
view matters in the same light as himself, when he was 
suddenly stopped by General Grant : 

" There is no use of talking politics to me. I know 
nothing about them ; and, furthermore, I do not know of 
any person among my acquaintances who does. But, 
continued he, " there is one subject with which I am per- 
fectly acquainted ; talk of that, and I am your man." 

" What is that, General ? " asked the politicians, in 
great surprise. 

" Tanning leather," was the reply. 

The subject was immediately changed. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



225 



On another occasion, an infamous proposal was made 
by a person to General Grant, while he was staying at his 
headquarters " in the field." The General, irritated, ad- 
ministered a severe kick to the proposer with the toe of 
his great cavalry boot ; and, after the fellow had been 
driven from the tent, one of his staff remarked to a com- 
panion, that he did not think the General had hurt the 
i rascal. 

" Never fear," was the reply ; " that boot never fails 
under such circumstances, for the leather came from 
Grant's store, in Galena." 

General Grant was not ashamed of his origin. Many, 
who have been successful in making money, or getting 
official position^ meanly try to hide the humble beginning 
of life ; even treating with scorn relatives who remain in the 
obscurity they have left. This is never seen in the truly 
great, pr justly honored. My youthful reader, believe and 
remember this. 

The great centres of rebel army operations in Grant's 
department had been taken. He was determined to clear 
it entirely of the enemy. The gallant Admiral Porter 
entered into the plan with all his heart. An expedition 
I was started to Yazoo City, where the enemy was posted ; 
another to Natchez, where supplies were crossing to the . 
Eastern army. Thousands of heads of cattle were cap- 
tured, and many prisoners. Like brothers, the land and 
the naval hero sympathized and fought together for the 
Republic, and accomplished all they proposed to do. 
15 



226 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



They speak warmly of each other in their reports. 
Smaller minds would have jarred with jealousy, perhaps 
defeating important enterprises by discordant counsels. 

We have an incident which affords another view of 
the character of the hero of Vicksburg. He invited a 
captive major-general, who once was in the same regiment 
with him, to his tent. There a free conversation was had 
upon the brighter past, and the tragical present. When 
General Grant expressed his regret to find him in the 
Confederate service, his prisoner replied : 

" Grant, I tell you I ain't much of a rebel, after all ; 
and when I am paroled, I will let the infernal service go 
to the mischief." 

While General Grant's headquarters were at Vicks- 
burg, several interesting scenes enlivened the interlude of 
exhausting toil. The President nominated him to the 
office of Major-General, and the commission was issued, 
bearing date of July 4th, 1863. The officers who had 
served under him, with appropriate ceremonies presented 
him a splendid sword. The blade was of finest steel, 
the scabbard of solid silver, elegantly finished, the handle 
richly carved with the figure of a young giant crushing 
the hydra, rebellion ; and the box, on whose lid, inside, 
was wrought his name with crimson silk, was made of 
rosewood, bound with ivory, and lined with velvet. 

An expensive present, you will say. Yes, it cost 
several hundred dollars ; but was worthily bestowed, and 
modestly accepted. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



227 



But now we turn to a domestic view of the warrior's 
life. His excellent wife, who had patiently waited in the 
distance for a victorious pause in his stormy career, em- 
braced the moments of comparative rest, and left her 
home for his camp. With a devoted wife's just pride, she 
desired not only to see him, but the stronghold which had 
immortalized his name. 

Reaching St. Louis, it soon became known that she 
was there. A fine band gathered to the hotel, and sere- 
naded the lady, who sought the public applause no more 
than her husband. "When the music died away, three 
cheers rang out for General Grant, followed by as many 
more for her. Leaning on the arm of Brigadier-General 
Strong, he responded to repeated calls for a speech, as 
follows : 

" Gentlemen : I am requested by Mrs. Grant to 
express her acknowledgments for the honor you have done 
her on this occasion. I know well that, in tendering her 
thanks, I express your sentiments, when I say the compli- 
ment through her to her noble husband is one merited by 
a brave and great man, who has made his name forever 
honored and immortal, in the history of America's illustri- 
ous patriots, living or dead. Mrs. Grant does not desire, 
in the testimony you have offered, that you should forget 
the brave and gallant officers and soldiers who have so 
largely assisted in bringing about the glorious result which 
has recently caused the big heart of our nation to leap 
with joy. She asks you also to stop and drop a pensive 



228 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



tear over the graves of the noble dead, who have fallen in 
the struggle, that you and I, and all of us, might enjoy 
the fruits of their patriotic devotion to a country second 
to none on the earth. "We trust that the Mississippi for- 
ever will be under the control of our glorious countrv. 
Mrs. Grant is now on the way to join her husband, who, 
since the commencement of the war, has not asked for one 
day's absence. He has not found time to be sick. With 
these remarks she bids you good night, and begs that you 
accept her thousand thanks." 

We cannot enter the seclusion of the home in the con- 
quered city, and hear all the words of devotion and con- 
gratulation there, which came in like asolian harmony 
during the pauses of a tempest, to the experience of the 
great commander. 

Nothing in his department escaped General Grant's 
careful attention. The speculating traders with the rebels, 
guerillas and marauders, and especially the emancipated 
slaves, were objects of decided action. Warmly sustain- 
ing the proclamation of liberty, he demanded the acknowl- 
edgment of the rights of the negroes under it, and their 

O GO/ 

honorable employment. 

Xoble man ! Never evading a measure of the Execu- 
tive, nor chasing back a fugitive to his master, he stood 
forth the protector of the poor and dependent. 

He personally inspected the whole field of command, 
and aimed at thoroughness in all his official conduct — a 
trait of character any one who desires the just respect 



LIFE OF GENERAL GKAXT. 



229 



and confidence of mankind, and substantial success, must 
possess. The pleasure boat goes with wind and tide ; the 
steamer, with its steadily working engine beam, moves, if 
necessary, against both, to the " desired haven." 

But, occasionally, the enthusiastic people compelled 
him to have a part of a holiday, at least. 

Leaving General McPherson in command of Vicks- 
burg, he went to Memphis, Tenn., in his survey of the 
districts under his control. The citizens met him with 
spontaneous homage. A committee waited upon him, and 
obtained his consent to the public honors of a festival on a 
grand scale. In his letter of acceptance, he said : 

I thank you, too, in the name of the noble army which I have the 
honor to command. It is composed of men whose loyalty is proved 
by their deeds of heroism and their willing sacrifices of life and 
health. They will rejoice with me that the miserable adherents of 
the rebellion, whom their bayonets have driven from this fair land, 
are being replaced by men who acknowledge human liberty as the 
only true foundation of human government. May your efforts to 
restore your city to the cause of the Union be as successful as have 
been theirs to reclaim it from the despotic rule of the leaders of the 
rebellion. I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your very obedient 
servant, 

U. S. Grant. 

At nine o'clock in the evening of August 26th, amid 
thronging guests, with a national air filling the spacious 
halls, General Grant entered the reception room. What a 
rush of men and women with extended hands ! An hour 



230 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



of such enthusiastic greeting passed, when, leading the 
long lines of grateful admirers, the hero marched through 
the banqueting hall, and, after a glance at the rich and 
varied abundance in tasteful and elegant order, he took his 
seat. The repast was followed by the toasts : 

" The United States of America — They have one 
Constitution and Government. May they have one grand 
destiny while human institutions endure." Responded to 
by Hon. Chas. Kortrecht. 

" The Army and Navy — Their deeds and heroism in 
this war will be the noble theme of poet and historian in 
all future time." Responded to by Adjutant- General 
Lorenzo Thomas. 

" General Grant — The guest of the city." 

This was the signal for the wildest applause, and it 
was some minutes before order could be restored. It was 
expected that General Grant would be brought to his feet 
by this ; but the company were disappointed, upon per- 
ceiving that, instead, his place was taken by his staff sur- 
geon, Dr. Hewitt, who remarked : 

"I am instructed by General Grant to say, that, as he 
has never been given to public speaking, you will have to 
excuse him on this occasion ; and, as I am the only mem- 
ber of his staff present, I therefore feel it my duty to 
thank you for this manifestation of your good will, as also 
the numerous other kindnesses of which he has been the 
recipient ever since his arrival among you. General 
Grant believes that, in all he has done, he has no more 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



231 



than accomplished a duty, and one, too, for which no par- 
ticular honor is due. But the world, as you do, will 
accord otherwise." 

The Doctor then proposed, at General Grant's request : 
"The officers of the different staffs, and the non-com- 
missioned officers and privates of the Army of the Ten- 
nessee." 

" The Federal Union — It must and will be preserved." 
Responded to by Major-General S. A. Hurlbut. 

" The Old Flag — May its extinguished stars, rekindled 
by the sacred flame of human liberty, continue to shine 
forever undiminished in number, and undimmed in splen- 
dor." Brigadier-General Veatch. 

" The President of the United States — He must be 
sustained." Colonel J. TV r . Fuller. 

" The Star-spangled Banner " was here sung, the 
whole party joining in the chorus. 

" The Loyal Men of Tennessee — Their devotion to 
the Union, the cause of republican government and con- 
stitutional liberty, is like gold tried seven times by fire." 
Mr. J. M. Tomeny. 

The remainder of the toasts were of a local character, 
with the exception of the closing one, which was as 
follows : 

" General Grant — Your Grant and my Grant. Hav- 
ing granted us victories, grant us the restoration of the 
( Old Flag ; ' grant us supplies, so that we may grant to 
our friends the grant to us." 



232 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



The festivities were kept up until near three o'clock in 
the morning, when General Grant withdrew from .he 
room. 

A poem was also read by Dr. Morris, of which are 
given the lines referring to General Grant's work on the 
Mississippi : 

The Mississippi closed — that mighty stream 

Found by De Soto, and by Fulton won ! 

One thought to chain him ! Ignominious thought ! 

But then the grand old monarch shook his locks, 

And burst his fetters like a Samson freed ! 

The heights were crowned with ramparts sheltering those 

Whose treason knew no bounds ; the frowning forts 

Belched lightnings, and the morning gun 

A thousand miles told mournfully the tale, 

The Mississippi closed. 

Not long. From the Lord God of Hosts was sent 
A leader, who with patient vigil planned 
A great deliverance. Height by height was gained, 
Island and hill and woody bank and cliff. 
Month followed month, till, on our natal day, 
The last great barrier fell ; and never more 
The sire of waters shall obstruction know ! 
Now, with De Soto's name, and Fulton's, see 
The greater name of Grant ! 

Our children's children, noble Grant, shall sing 
That great deliverance ! On the floods of spring 
Thy name shall sparkle ; smiling commerce tell 
Thy great achievement, which restores the chain, 
Never again to break, which makes us one. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



General Grant at New Orleans— His simplicity in Dress— Reviews the Thir- 
teenth Army Corps— Sad Accident— Recovers from the serious Injuries 
— He cares for the Soldier in little things — A new and larger Command — 
Chickamauga and Chattanooga— An amusing Incident— The feelings of 
th*e Reh els— General Grant at Chattanooga— Clearing the Track— Jeff. 
Davis on Lookout. 

)HE first day of autumn, 1863, General Grant 
was sailing toward New Orleans — was near the 
Crescent City, so recently cut off from his dis- 
tant Vicksburg. 

September 3d, the announcement was made 
that the Father of Waters was opened for trade, limited 
only by the determination to prevent any traffic that 
would help the rebels. 

The next morning lights up a splendid pageant. 
From St. Charles Hotel, mark that cavalcade of officers 
mounted amid the gathering thousands anxious to look on 
£k3 central object of universal interest. Away the horse- 
men dash ! But which is the hero of the day ? Turn 
your eye from dazzling uniforms, to that man of ordinary 
aspect, " in undress uniform, without sword, sash, or belt, 




234 



XIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



coat unbuttoned, a low-crowned black felt bat, without any 
mark upon it of military rank," and you see Major-Gen- 
eral Grant. Through streets Kneel with spectators, they 
gallop into the country toward Carrollton, to review the 
Thirteenth Army Corps. While passing back and forth 
on the field of splendid military display, his strange 
steed makes a sudden dash, and throws the illustrious 
rider. Consternation passes over the multitudes. It was 
no trivial accident. Bruised, and with broken bones, he is 
borne on a litter to the steamer "Franklin," and carried 
to New Orleans. A whole month he was in the surgeon's 
care. It was well that he escaped with no more serious 
results of the fall, and an occasion for gratitude to the 
God of our fathers, who spared him to the endangered 
land they gave us. 

While only partially recovered, with the aid of a 
crutch and cane, he embarked on his voyage up the Mis- 
sissippi. He, like Washington, was careful in little things. 
Who but himself would have thought it worth the while 
to regulate the fare from Cairo to New Orleans, to save 
the soldiers from unjust charges ? Not only so, but he 
ordered that " enlisted men be entitled to travel as cabin 
passengers, when they desire it, at the same rates." The 
" boys " were not to be thrust into the hold, or on deck, but 
must be treated like men. He required the " officers in 
the inspector-general's department to report any neglect 93 
to pay the soldiers promptly. He went farther still. Be- 
sides a just and kind jurisdiction established in and around 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT, 



235 



Vicksburg, he had General McPherson issue a general 
order, beginning thus : 

" In order to encourage and raward the meritorious 
and faithful officers and men of this corps, a ' Medal of 
Honor/ with appropriate device, has been prepared, and 
will be presented by a 'Board of Honor,' of which the 
Major-General commanding is the advisory member, to all 
those who, by their gallantry in action and other soldier- 
like qualities, have most distinguished themselves, or who 
may hereafter most distinguish themselves during the 
war." 

It was an appropriate expression of his regard for dis- 
tinguished bravery. 

" The design of the medals was a blending of the 
crescent, a star, and a shield ; the base being formed of 
the crescent, to the two extremities of which was fixed 
the star, while pendent from its lower point was suspended 
a shield. Upon the crescent the words, 1 Vicksburg, July 
4, 1863.' The object in the presentation of these badges 
was to reward the meritorious members of the Seventeenth. 
Corps for conspicuous valor on the field of battle or 
endurance in the march. This famous- corps, since its 
organization, had been foremost in duty and deeds of 
glory throughout the entire campaign against Vicksburg, 
and no better method could have been adopted to continue 
in the future the same excellent spirit of emulation for 
which it has always been celebrated, both on the part of 
officers and men." 



236 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



A new and wider command, with gigantic work, now 
opens before General Grant. Look away from Vicks- 
burg, a long distance northeast, into Southeastern Tennes- 
see, and you will notice, on the Western and Atlantic 
Eailroad, eighteen miles apart, Chickamauga and Chatta- 
nooga. The Tennessee River flows near, and railways 
run among the wild summits which guard glorious valleys, 
and make some of the finest scenery in the world. 
Every young person should know something of this inter- 
esting country. We find, on a stray sheet, a good de- 
scription of it : 

" Chickamauga comprehends a considerable district 
extending up and down a creek of that name, which 
empties into the Tennessee River, near Chattanooga, run- 
ning a northwest course. Seven miles in a direct line up 
this creek, or fifteen following -its course, was located 
Brainard, the first missionary station established by the 
American Board among the Cherokee Indians, in 1817. 
In this region, this tribe held a territory of twelve thou- 
sand square miles, or eight million acres, guaranteed to 
them by the United States, two thirds of which lay in 
Georgia. Brainard was situated on the west side of this 
creek. On the same side is situated the ridge of land now 
called Missionary Ridge, doubtless from the circumstance 
that the missionary station was in that neighborhood. 
This station comprised a farm of forty-five acres, which 
was cultivated by the mission in order to introduce among 
the Indians habits of industry and of a civilized life* 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 237 

Lookout Mountain is seven miles clue west from Brainard. 
From its summit a magnificent landscape is open to view, 
extending over the surrounding country, and even to the 
Blue Ridge. 

" This was the Cherokee's favorite hunting ground. 
Over it the State of Georgia extended her laws, and im- 
prisoned the missionaries "who refused to take the oath of 
allegiance to them. The United States also took the eight 
million acres of land, paying them only fi>e hundred 
thousand dollars, and removing them beyond the Missis- 
sippi. The injustice and suffering attending their removal 
is little known to the present generation. The mission- 
aries were dragged from their fields of labor by the armed 
soldiers of the State of Georgia, treated with great indig- 
nity, and immured in the penitentiary for a year and four 
months. In the meantime, the lands of the Cherokees 
were surveyed and divided into farms of one hundred and 
forty acres each, and distributed by lottery among the 
inhabitants of the State. Counties were organized, magis- 
trates appointed, and courts held, and the number of 
whites who crowded into the territory exceeded that of 
the Indians. There were men who took every means to 
draw the Indians into intemperance and debauchery. 
"When the time for removal, by a treaty negotiated by a 
portion of the chiefs, came, families were taken from their 
houses and farms, leaving their furniture and flocks, and 
marched under strong guards to camps selected as starting 
places ; and such were the hardships of the journey to 



238 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



their new homes, that one fourth of the nation died on the 
way. 

" Is it strange that God should visit the iniquities of 
the fathers upon the children of this very region, where so 
much injustice and wrong had been inflicted upon a people 
who had ever been the firm friends of the white man, and 
who were laying aside the pursuits of the chase, and were 
fast becoming a civilized and Christian people ? " 

While General Grant was a suffering invalid, Septem- 
ber 19th, General Rosecrans, at the head of the Army of 
the Cumberland, met General Bragg at Chickamauga, 
and, after a desperate conflict, was glad to retreat to Chat- 
tanooga, unpursued by his successful enemy. General 
Sherman, from General Grant's department, commenced 
moving over the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, Octo- 
ber 11th, toward that position, to help General Rosecrans. 
He had a hard fight with hostile troops, but reached Chat- 
tanooga. 

On the 17th, General Grant met General Halleck, 
from Washington, according to a telegram from him, at 
Indianapolis. After the usual salutations, General Hal- 
leck handed him a general order, putting him in command 
of the " Departments of the Ohio, of the Cumberland, and 
of the Tennessee, constituting the Military Division of the 
Mississippi." 

General Grant now held the most extensive military 
rule on all the field of civil war. The great belt between 
the eastern boundaries of Alabama and Tennessee and those 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



239 



of Illinois and Indiana, down to the Department of the 
Gulf, was under his control. It was a magnificent com- 
mand, and another stride in his rapid advancement. 
Around him, as subordinate officers, were to stand Gen- 
erals Sherman, Thomas — who succeeded Roseerans — Burn- 
side, and Hooker. General Halleck accompanied Gen- 
eral Grant to Louisville. 

An amusing scene now transpires. The Gait House 
is the principal hotel, and there the crowd are gathered. 
Tall and swarthy Kentuckians, old soldiers of the Union, 
women and children, stand in every place which affords a 
glimpse of the hero. Among the gazing countrymen, a 
stalwart son of Kentucky stares a moment at him, and 
then exclaims : 

tl Well, that's Grant ! I thought he was a large man. 
He would be considered a small chance of a fighter if he 
lived in Kentucky." 

The mighty host of General Bragg, under Generals 
Longstreet and Hill, with Joe Johnston's thirty thousand 
troops ready to cooperate, thought the Union army was 
securely locked up at Chattanooga. A newspaper, refer- 
ring to General Rosecrans's removal, and, in his place, the 
appointment of Generals Grant and Thomas, stated, the 
Government had supplanted a hero with hvo fools. The 
President remarked : "If one fool like Grant can do so 
much work, and win as profitable victories as he, he had 
no objection to two of them, as they would be likely to 
wipe out the rebellion." Hear the loud words of the 
Atlanta Rebel : 



240 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" The Yankee Arnij of the Cumberland holds the 
door to lower East Tennessee, and this door we must 
leave open. * * * If we continue to gaze listlessly 
from the bold knobs of Missionary Ridge upon the com- 
fortable barracks of the Federals below, then may we 
tremble for the next campaign ; for. as sure as there is 
any surety in the future, the spring of 1864 must see us 
far from the borders of Georgia, or near to the verge of 
destruction. Xail it to your doorposts, men of the South, 
and refuse to be deluded into any other belief ! Food and 
raiment are our needs. W e must have them. Kentucky 
and Middle Tennessee can only supply them. Better give 
up the seacoast, better give up the Southwest, ay, better 
to give up Richmond without a struggle, and win these, 
than lose the golden field, whose grain and wool are our 
sole hope. The enemy has just one army too many in 
the field for us. "We must crush this overplus ; we must 
gain one signal Stonewall Jackson campaign. Destiny 
points to the very place. And how ? Nothing easier. 
The bee which has really stung our flank so long, once 
disposed of, our triumphant legions have a clear road be- 
fore them. Fed sumptuously through the winter, well 
shod and clad, they have only to meet a dispirited foe, 
retake the valley of the Mississippi, secure the election of 
a Peace Democrat to the Presidency in the fall, and 
arrange the terms of treaty and independence. These 
results can be accomplished nowhere else than in this de- 
partment. The Northwest is our real adversary." 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



241 



October 23d, General Grant reached Chattanooga. 
Wrote a Union soldier of the sad condition of things 
there : 

" I confess I do not see any very brilliant prospects for 
continuing alive in it all this winter, unless something 
desperate be done. "While the army sits here, hungry, 
chilly, watching the 1 key to Tennessee/ the 1 good dog 1 
Bragg lies over against us, licking his Chickamauga sores 
without whine or growl. He will not reply to our occa- 
sional shots from Star Fort, Fort Crittenden, or the Moc- 
casin Point batteries across the river ; has forbidden the 
exchange of newspapers and the compliments of the day 
between pickets ; has returned surly answers to flag*of- 
truce messages ; in fact, has cut us dead. 

" The mortality among the horses and mules is fright- 
ful to contemplate. Their corpses line the road, and taint 
the air, all along the Bridgeport route. In these days, 
hereabouts, it is within the scope of the most obtuse to 
distinguish a quartermaster or staff officer, by a casual 
glance at the animal he strides. 1 He has the fatness of 
twenty horses upon his ribs,' as Squeers remarked of little 
Wackford ; 4 and so he has. God help the others/ 

" I am assured this state of things will not last long ; 
that hordes of men are energetically at work improving 
our means of communication, and that we soon shall be 
benefited by the overflowing plenty of the North. The 
vigor and good spirits of the army, all this time, are de- 
veloped in a most astonishing manner. 
16 



242 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" Major-General Grant, who presides over the destinies 
of this, among other armies, reached Chattanooga to-day." 

That state of things did not last long. The great 
trouble was, to get supplies. The valley route of travel 
*lay under the guns of Lookout Mountain. So the poor 
horses and mules had to drag the heavy wagons among 
the mountains, through mud and over Alpine ridges, by 
slow and exhausting stages. 

General Grant, soon after his arrival, was riding with 
Quartermaster- General Meigs along the highways, bor- 
dered with carcasses and skeletons, when they passed the 
decaying body of a gigantic mule. " Ah, General," said 
Grant, with affected sadness, " there lies a dead soldier of 
the Quartermaster's Department." "Yes, General," re- 
sponded Meigs, with equal gravity ; " in him you see 
1 the ruling passion strong in death } exemplified ; for the 
old veteran has already assumed the offensive." 

Thus, like moonlight across black storm-clouds, breaks 
the humor and wit of great minds upon the grim aspect 
of war. 

Generals Hooker and Smith were sent to cut a way 
through Lookout Valley to meet an expedition which 
started at midnight, October 26th, near Bridgeport, Ala., 
in fifty-six boats. Only a few officers knew the destina- 
tion. What a sail was that ! The moon, over whose 
face drift occasional clouds, shines down on the Ten- 
nessee. The boats move a few miles, and reach the 
enemy's lines. Then comes old Lookout, its rough sides 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



243 



ablaze with hostile signal torches, and crowned with bat- 
teries. To get past and join the other forces, and clear a 
path for supplies, is the perilous voyage before them. 
Oars are dropped, and the fourteen hundred men, hold- 
ing breath in suspense, keep their pontoons close to the 
banks. Slowly the spectres float under the mountain s 
deep shadow. No sound but a rebel picket's snatch of 
song from the summit ready to pour down lightning and 
iron hail, is heard in the awful solitude. The moments 
seem hours. And now the silent flotilla emerges into 
moonbeams, and the brave fellows draw a long breath of 
relief. The passage is made. Landing, under the gallant 
Hazen and Geary, they fight their way along, and, 
making a junction with Hooker and Smith, at the base 
of Lookout, the Bridgeport route is cleared of rebel rule. 
The famine is soon relieved, and affairs at Chattanooga 
wear a brighter aspect. 

About this time, J eff. Davis, it is said, visited the for- 
tress on the lofty summit, which seemed to defy attack. 
His vulture eye swept the circle of the magnificent view, 
covering a part of four States. And we may believe, 
with something like the exultation of Satan when he 
showed the Messiah the kingdoms of the earth, he re- 
marked to General Pemberton, when his gaze came back 
to General Grant's army, in the distance, working on the 
fortifications : 

" I have them now in just the trap I set for them." 

Pemberton turned to Jeff. Davis, and replied; 



244 LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 

" Mr. Davis, you are Commander-in-Chief, and you are 
here. You think the enemy are in a trap, and can be 
captured by vigorous assault. I have been blamed for not 
having ordered a general attack on the enemy when they 
were drawing around me their lines of circumvallation at 
Vicksburg. Do you now order an attack upon those 
troops down there below us, and I will set you my life 
that not one man of the attacking column will ever come 
back across that valley, except as a prisoner." 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Preparations for Battle again— The successful Trap— The brave Advance 
of General Wood— The Contest opened— The Three Days' Fight— Gen- 
eral Hooker above tne Clouds— General Grant's Despatch— General 
Bragg' s— General Meigs's Despatch— General Grant at the Cofnn of 
Colonel O'Meara. 




HE Chief began in quiet earnest to prepare for 
an attack on 'Chattanooga. Drill and parade 
were frequent in front of our fortifications, and 
within full view of the enemy. General Grant, 
not jet perfectly well, was daily seen walking 



" to and fro up the streets of the town, unattended, many 
times unobserved, but at all times observing." To stop 
raids and personal violence, he issued an order to hold 
secessionists responsible for injury done, imprisoning host- 
ages when our people were injured, and taking property in 
return for losses in our lines. 

In vain General Longstreet tried to swing around the ■ 
rear of the Union army east of Chattanooga, and move 
on Knoxville, Tenm, before the noble Burnside was at 
hand, and ready to set the trap General Grant had made 



246 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



for the rebel commander. General Burnside met Long- 
street, and, after some resistance, gave way. 

November 14th and 1 5th, the enemy was beaten back, 
and then our " boys " retreated, leading him on to Knox- 
ville, across the Little Tennessee River. 

On the 19th, General Burnside had got within the 
defences of the city, and General Longstreet was invest- 
ing it. The traitor thought he had caught the defenders 
of the Republic ; General Grant knew he had him just 
where he desired to hold him a while. All the time, the 
watchful eye of the Commander-in-Chief of the Military 
Division of the Mississippi was on Missionary Ridge and 
Lookout Mountain — the vital defences of the enemy. 

Weakened by the withdrawal of Longstreet's force, 
and with the troops left spread' along the Ridge, General 
Gran: believed that, by keeping the extremities busy in 
the fight, he could break through the centre of those lines 
seven miles long. The generals were posted on the right 
and left flanks, and at the centre, ready to make the bold 
attack on the 21st. But General Sherman was delayed in 
his movements by rains, and the ruin of pontoons, against 
which the rebels sent down rafts ; and two days inter- 
vened before the grand trial of strength could be made. 

The 23d of November came. It was Monday morn- 
ing. The previous clay, prayer and praise had been heard 
in camp. The chaplains, and other Christian workers for 
the spiritual good of the soldiers, had kindly spoken to 
them of the glorious M Captain of our salvation." The 



LIFE OF GENERAL GEANT. 



247 



faces of brave men had been wet with tears, as they 
thought of home and the loved ones there. Many letters 
had been written with the feeling that they might be the 
last messages of affection from the field of conflict. 

The orders pass from General Grant's headquarters to 
advance toward the Ridge, alive with vigilant enemies. 
The preeminent strategy of the Leader was apparent in 
the very method of opening the struggle. The columns 
marched from their works as if on parade. Banners were 
borne, and bands played, and the whole aspect of the 
embattled host was that of ordinary review. The de- 
ceived foe looked down with comparative indifference, 
from heights five hundred feet above. But onward toward 
the rifle pits, and to an advanced position, our forces 
pressed, till too late for the enemy to send to their camps 
for reinforcements. 

At half past one o'clock in the afternoon, General 
"Wood leaves Fort Wood with his tried battalions. Watch 
him, as he goes down the slope to the open plain between 
him and the forest skirting Missionary Ridge. From the 
battlements of the fortress, General Grant, with Thomas, 
Granger, and Howard by his side, is looking on with 
interest too intense for anv other language than that of 
silence. The heavy guns from those ramparts send to the 
eminences in the enemy's foreground, and over the brave 
ranks advancing, the thunder and the messengers of 
death. The columns reach the plain. The battle storm 
beats down upon them; but steadily, as though on ordi- 



248 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



nary march, they move on, under the eye of their fearless 
commander, and of the chieftains on the walls of the fort. 
They march like men who mean to gladden the sight of 
beholders, and the land they love. Now they enter the 
dark woods. The moments fly, and a blue smoke rises 
from the sheltering trees, and floats like a banner toward 
Missionary Ridge. A hum of excitement and delight 
spreads along the battlements of Fort Wood, and rises 
from loyal, heroic lips in every part of it. The foes 
dash into Wood's front, but the shock is well sustained. 
Then, a charge i Up the slope rushes the steel-pointed 
surge. " Orchard Knob " is taken, the rifle pits cleared, 
and the decisive contest fairly opened. 

The next gloomy day of drizzling rain brought a re- 
newal of the fight. An observer of the attack ordered 
by General Sherman, furnishes you with an interesting 
view of the troops on the eve of battle : 

" Soldiers are very different beings under the two dif- 
ferent circumstances of receiving and making an attack. 
In the first case they are seldom or never composed, cool, 
and quiet. Put men behind breastworks to receive an 
assault, and the delay in the attack creates anxiety, which 
develops into mental excitement, which finds vent in noise 
and a certain restlessness of person. Going to the assault, 
they are different beings. I watched carefully the col- 
umns, as they moved out to the assault on Tuesday, each 
believing that the next step brought his advance against 
that of the enemy. The silence was painfully noticeable. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



249 



A command given at one end of the corps, could be dis- 
tinctly heard at the other. The men looked serious, and 
rather gruff, and were painfully quiet. They conversed 
with each other but seldom, and then in under tones. All 
appeared anxious to preserve their weapons from the rain. 
They moved in perfect order. But though one might fail 
to notice this, the most casual student of human nature 
could hardly fail to observe how serious those men were. 
And he would know, too, that it was not the rain which 
dampened their spirits. Ever and anon they would glance 
at the hill which they were approaching, and it was easy 
to see why they looked serious. Perhaps they compared 
the hills, in their own minds, to the Walnut Hills of 
Vicksburg ; but I do not think there was one man there 
who feared to test the question of victory or defeat there 
and then." 

For three days the field of the strife for miles exhib- 
ited the varying fortunes and awfully sublime scenes of 
valor and blood, of warfare unrivalled in the annals of the 
past. Near Fort Buckner, the Union Brigade, under a 
rocky ridge which protected them from bullets, met a 
shower of stones hurled upon them from above. 

Notwithstanding General Grant's accident at Carroll- 
ton, no better horseman drew the rein in either army. It 
was a common thing on the bloody field of Chattanooga, • 
to see his steed, touched with the spur, dash off at a pace 
that left his staff stringing along behind, " like the tail of 
a kite." He went with the speed of the wind from one 
part of the hail-swept plain to another. 



250 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



My youthful reader, would you have liked to stand 
in some safe spot, and witness the grand and terrible 
combat ? 

You can never come nearer to such a view, than by 
reading the finest account of this, or any other battle. It 
was written by an eyewitness, B. F. Taylor, for the 
Chicago Journal: 

" The iron heart of Sherman's column began to be 
audible, like the fall of great trees in the depth of the 
forest, as it beat beyond the woods on the extreme left. 
Over roads indescribable, and conquering lions of difficul- 
ties that met him all the way, he had at length arrived 
with Lis command of the Army of the Tennessee. The 
roar of his guns was like the striking of a great clock, 
and grew nearer and louder as- the morning wore away. 
Along the centre all was still. Our men lay as they had 
lain since Tuesday night— motionless, behind the works. 
Generals Grant, Tliornas, Granger, Meigs, Hunter, Rey- 
nolds, were grouped at Orchard Knob, here ; Bragg, 
Breckinridge, Hardee, Stevens, Cleburn, Bates, Walker, 
were waiting on Mission Ridge, yonder. And the North- 
ern clock tolled on ! At noon, a pair of steamers, scream- 
ing in the river across the town, telling over, in their own 
wild way, cur mountain triumph on the right, pierced the 
hushed breadth of air between two lines of battle with a 
note or two of the music of peaceful life. 

" At one o'clock the signal flag at Fort Wood was 
a-flutter. Scanning the horizon, another flag, glancing 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



251 



like a lady's handkerchief, showed white across a field 
lying high and dry upon the ridge three miles to the 
northeast, and answered back. The centre and Sherman's 
corps had spoken. As the hour went by, all semblance to 
falling tree and tolling clock had vanished ; it was a 
rattling roar ; the ring of Sherman's panting artillery, and 
the fiery gnst from the rebel guns on Tunnel Hill, the 
point of Mission Eidge. The enemy had massed there 
the corps of Hardee and Buckner, as upon a battlement, 
utterly inaccessible save by one steep, narrow way, com 
manded by their guns. A thousand men could hold it 
against a host. And right in front of this bold abutment 
of the ridge is a broad, clear field, skirted by woods. 
Across this tremendous threshold, up to death's door, 
moved Sherman's column. Twice it advanced, and twice 
I saw it swept back in bleediug lines before the furnace 
blast, until that russet field seemed some strange page 
ruled thick with blue and red. Bright valor was in vain ; 
they lacked the ground to stand on ; they wanted, like the 
giant of old story, a touch of earth to make them strong. 
It was the devil's own corner. Before them was a lane, 
whose upper end the rebel cannon swallowed. Moving 
by the right flank, nature opposed them with precipitous 
heights. There was nothing for it but straight across the 
field, swept by an enfilading fire, and up to the lane, down 
which drove the storm. They could unfold no broad 
front, and so the losses were less than seven hundred, that 
must otherwise have swelled to thousands. The musketry 



252 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



fire was delivered with terrible emphasis. Two dwellings, 
in one of which Federal wounded men were lying, set on 
fire by the rebels, began to send up tall columns of smoke, 
streaked red with fire. The grand and the terrible were 
blended. 

* * * * * * 

" The brief November afternoon was half gone. It 
was yet thundering on the left ; along the centre all was 
still. At that very hour a fierce assault was made upon 
the enemy's left, near Rossville, four miles down toward 
the old field of Chickamauga. They carried the Ridge — 
Mission Ridge seems everywhere ; they strewed its sum- 
mit with rebel dead ; they held it. And thus the tips of 
the Federal army's widespread wings flapped grandly. 
But it had not swooped ; the gray quarry yet perched 
upon Mission Ridge. The rebel army was terribly bat- 
tered at the edges ; but there, full in our front, it grimly 
waited, biding out its time. If the horns of the rebel 
crescent could not be doubled crushingly together, in a 
shapeless mass, possibly it might be sundered at its centre, 
and tumbled in fragments over the other side of Mission 
Ridge. Sherman was halted upon the left ; Hooker was 
holding hard in Chattanooga Yalley ; the Fourth Corps, 
that rounded out our centre, grew impatient of restraint. 
The day was waning ; but little time remained to com- 
plete the Commanding General's grand design. Gordon 
Granger's hour had come ; his work was full before him. 

" And what a work that was, to make a weak man 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



253 



falter and a brave man think ! One and a half miles to 
traverse, with narrow fringes of woods, rough valleys, 
sweeps of open field, rocky acclivities, to the base of the 
ridge, and no foot in all the breadth withdrawn from rebel 
sight; no foot that could not be played upon by rebel 
cannon, like a piano's keys under Thalberg's stormy fin- 
gers. The base attained, what then ? A heavy rebel 
work, packed with the enemy, rimming it like a battle- 
ment. That work carried, and what then ? A hill, strug- 
gling up out of the valley four hundred feet, rained on 
by bullets, swept by shot and shell; another line of 
works, and then, up like a Gothic roof, rough with rocks, 
a wreck with fallen trees, four hundred more ; another 
ring of fire and iron, and then the crest, and then the 
enemy. 

" To dream of such a journey would be madness ; to 
devise it, a thing incredible ; to do it, a deed impossible. 
But Grant was guilty of them all, and Granger was equal 
to the work. The story of the battle of Mission Ridge is 
struck with immortality already ; let the leader of the 
Fourth Corps bear it company. 

" That the centre yet lies along its silent line, is still 
true ; in five minutes it will be the wildest fiction. Let 
us take that little breath of grace for just one glance at 
the surroundings, since we shall have neither heart nor 
eyes for it again. Did ever battle have so vast a cloud 
of witnesses ? The hive-shaped hills have swarmed. 
Clustered like bees, blackening the housetops, lining the 



254 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



fortifications, over yonder across the theatre, in the seat3 
with the Catilines, everywhere, are a hundred thousand 
beholders. Their souls are in their eyes. Not a murmur 
can you hear. It is the most solemn congregation that 
ever stood up in the presence of the God of battles. I 
think of Bunker Hill, as I stand here — of the thousands 
who witnessed the immortal struggle — and fancy there is 
a parallel. I think, too, that the chair of every man of 
them* will stand vacant against the wall to-morrow, and 
that around the fireside they must give thanks without 
him, if they can. 

" At half past three, a group of generals, whose 
names will need no 1 Old Mortality ' to chisel them anew, 
stood upon Orchard Knob. The hero of Vicksburg was 
there, calm, clear, persistent, far-seeing. Thomas, the 
sterling and sturdy ; Meigs, Hunter, Granger, Reynolds. 
Clusters of humbler mortals were there, too, but it was 
anything but a turbulent crowd ; the voice naturally fell 
into a subdued tone, and even young faces took on the 
gravity of later years. Generals Grant, Thomas, and 
Granger conferred, an order was given, and in an instant 
the Knob was cleared like a ship's deck for action. At 
twenty minutes of four, Granger stood upon the parapet. 
The bugle swung idle at the bugler's side, the warbling fife 
and the grumbling drum unheard : there was to be louder 
talk — six guns at intervals of two seconds, the signal to 
advance. Strong and steady his voice rang out : i Num- 
ber one, fire ! Number two, fire ! Number three, fire ! 1 



LIFE OF GEXEEAL GRANT, 



255 



It seemed to me the tolling of the clock of destiny. And 
when, at 1 Number six, fire ! ' the roar throbbed out with 
the flash, you should have seen the dead line that had been 
lying behind the "vrorks all clay, all night, all day again, 
come to resurrection in the twinkling of an eye, leap like 
a blade from its scabbard, and sweep with a two-mile 
stroke toward the ridge. From divisions to brigades, 
from brigades to regiments, the order ran. A minute, and 
the skirmishers deploy ; a minute, and the first great 
drops begin to patter along the line ; a minute, and the 
musketry is in full play, like the crackling whips of a 
hemlock fire. Men go clown here and there before your 
eyes. The wind lifts the smoke, and drifts it away over 
the top of the Ridge. Everything is too distinct ; it is 
fairly palpable ; you can touch it with your hand. The 
divisions of "Wood and Sheridan are wading breast deen 
in the valley of death. 

" I never can tell you what it was like. They pushed 
out, leaving nothing behind them. There was no reserva- 
tion in that battle. On moves the line of skirmishers, like 
a heavy frown, and after it, at quick time, the splendid 
columns. At right of us and left of us and front of us, 
you can see the bayonets glitter in the sun. You cannot 
persuade yourself that Bragg was wrong, a day or two 
ago, when, seeing Hooker moving in, he said, " Now we 
shall have a Potomac review ; ' that this is not the parade 
he prophesied ; that it is of a truth the harvest of death 
to which they go down. And so through the fringe of 



J 



256 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



woods went the line. Now, out into the open ground 
they burst at the double-quick. Shall I call it a Sabbath- 
day's journey, or a long one and a half mile ? To me 
that watched, it seemed endless as eternity ; and yet they 
made it in thirty minutes. The tempest that now broke 
upon their heads was terrible. The enemy's fire burst out 
of the rifle pits from base to summit of Mission Ridge ; 
five rebel batteries of Parrotts and Napoleons opened 
along the crest. Grape and canister and shot and shell 
sowed the ground with rugged iron, and garnished it with 
the wounded and the dead. But steady and strong our 
columns moved on. 

* By heaven ! It was a splendid sight to see, 
For one who had no friend, no brother there ; 

but to all loyal hearts — alas ! and thank God — those men 
were friend and brother, both in one. 

" And over their heads, as they went, Forts TFood 
and Neglej struck straight out, like mighty pugilists, right 
and left, raining their iron blows upon the Ridge from base 
to crest ; Forts Palmer and King took up the quarrel, and 
Moccasin' Point cracked its fiery whips, and lashed the 
rebel left, till the wolf cowered in its corner with a growl. 
Bridges's battery, from Orchard Knob below, thrust its 
ponderous fists in the face of the enemy, and planted 
blows at will. Our artillery was doing splendid service. 
It laid its shot and shell wherever it pleased. Had giants 
carried them by hand, they could hardly have been more 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



257 



accurate. All along the mountain's side, in the rebel rifle 
pits, on the crest, they fairly dotted the Ridge. General 
Granger leaped down, sighted a gun, and in a moment, 
right in front, a great volume of smoke, like 1 the cloud by 
day,' lifted off the summit from among the rebel batteries, 
and hung motionless, kindling in the sun. The shot had 
struck a caisson, and that was its dying breath. In five 
minutes away floated another. A shell went crashing 
through a building in the cluster that marked Bragg's 
headquarters ; a second killed the skeleton horses of a 
batterv at his elbow ; a third scattered a gray mass as if 
it had been a wasp's nest. 

" And all the while our lines were moving on. They 
had burned through the woods and swept over the rough 
and rolling ground like a prairie fire. Never halting, 
never faltering, they charged up to the first rifle pits with 
a cheer, forked out the rebels with their bayonets, and lay 
there panting for breath. If the thunder of guns had 
been terrible, it was now growing sublime ; it was like the 
footfall of God on the ledges of cloud. Our forts and 
batteries still thrust out their mighty arms across the val- 
ley. The rebel guns that lined the arc of the crest full in 
our front, opened like the fan of Lucifer, and converged 
their fire down upon Baird and Wood and Sheridan. It . 
was rifles and musketry ; it was grape and canister ; it 
was shell and shrapnel. Mission Ridge was volcanic ; a 
thousand torrents of red poured over its brink, and rushed 
together to its base. And our men were there, halting 
17 



258 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



for breath. ! And still the sublime diapason rolled on. 
Echoes that never waked before, roared out from height to 
height, and called from the far ranges of Walclron's Ridge 
to Lookout. As for Mission Ridge, it had jarred to such 
music before ; it was the 1 sounding board ' of Chicka- 
mauga. It was behind us then ; it frowns and flashes in 
our face to-day. The old Army of the Cumberland was 
there. It breasted the storm till the storm was spent, and 
left the ground it held. The old Army of the Cumber- 
land is here ! It shall roll up the Ridge like a surge to its 
summit, and sweep triumphant down the other side. 
Believe me, that memory and hope may have made the 
heart of many a blue-coat beat like a drum. 1 Beat/ did 
I say ? The feverish heart of the battle beats on ; fifty- 
eight guns a minute, by the watch, is the rate of its ter- 
rible throbbing. That hill, if you climb it, will appal 
you. Furrowed like a summer fallow, bullets as if an 
oak had shed them ; trees clipped and shorn, leaf and 
limb, as with the knife of some heroic gardener pruning 
back for richer fruit. How you attain the summit, weary 
and breathless, I wait to hear ; how they went up in the 
teeth of the storm, no man can tell ! 

" And, all the while, rebel priso rs have been stream- 
ing out from the rear of our lines i^e the tails of a cloud 
of kites. Captured and disarmed, they needed nobody to 
set them going. The fire of their own comrades was like 
spurs in a horse's flanks, and, amid the tempest of their 
own brewing, they ran for dear life, until they dropped 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



259 



like quails into the Federal rifle pits, and were safe. But 
our gallant legions are out in the storm : they have carried 
the works at the base of the Ridge ; they have fallen like 
leaves in winter weather. Blow, dumb bugles ! 

" Sound the recall ! 1 Take the rifle pit ! ' was the 
order ; and it is as empty of rebels as the tomb of the 
prophets. Shall they turn their hacks to the blast ? 
Shall they sit down under the eaves of that dripping 
iron ? Or shall they climb to the cloud of death above 
them, and pluck out its lightnings as they would straws 
from a sheaf of wheat ? But the order was not given. 
And now the arc of fire on the crest grows fiercer and 
longer. The reconnoissance of Monday had failed to de- 
velop the heavy metal of the enemy. The dull fringe of 
the hill kindles with the flash of great guns. I count the 
fleeces of white smoke that dot the Ridge, as battery after 
battery opens upon our line, until from the ends of the 
growing arc they sweep down upon it in mighty X's of 
fire. I count till that devil's girdle numbers thirteen bat- 
teries, and my heart cries out, ' Great God, when shall the 
end be ! ' There is a poem I learned in childhood, and so 
did you : it is Campbell's ' Hohenlinden.' One line I 
never knew the meaning of, until I read it written along 
that hill ! It has lighted up the whole poem for me with 
the glow of battle forever : 

4 And louder than the bolts of heaven, 
Far flashed the red artillery. 1 



260 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" At this moment, General Granger's aids are dashing 
out with an order. They radiate over the field, to left, 
right, and front, 1 Take the Ridge, if you can ! ' 1 Take 
the Ridge, if you can ! ' and so it went, along the line. 
But the advance had already set forth without it. Stout- 
hearted Wood, the iron-gray veteran, is rallying on his 
men ; stormy Turchin is delivering brave words in bad 
English ; Sheridan — ' Little Phil ' — you may easily look 
down upon him without climbing a tree, and see one of 
the most gallant leaders of the age, if you do — is riding 
to and fro along the first line of rifle pits, as calmly as a 
chess player. An aid rides up with the order. 'Avery, 
that flask,' said the general. Quietly filling the pewter 
cup, Sheridan looks up at the battery that frowns above 
him, by Bragg's headquarters, shakes his cap amid that 
storm of everything that kills, when you could hardly 
hold your hand without catching a bullet in it, and, with a 
'How are you? ' tosses off the cup. The blue battle-flag 
of the rebels fluttered a response to the cool salute, and 
the next instant the battery let fly its six guns, showering 
Sheridan with earth. Alluding to that compliment with 
anything but a blank cartridge, the general said to me, in 

his quiet way, 1 1 thought it ungenerous ! ' The 

recording angel will drop a tear upon the word for the 
part he played that day. Wheeling toward the men, he 
cheered them to the charge, and made at the hill like a 
bold-riding hunter. They were out of the rifle pits and 
into the tempest, and struggling up the steep, before you 



LIFE. OF GENERAL GRANT. 



261 



could get breath to tell it ; and so they were throughout 
the inspired line. 

" And now you have before you one of the most start- 
ling episodes of the war. I cannot render it in words ; 
dictionaries are beggarly things. But I may tell you they 
did not storm that mountain as you would think. They 
dash out a little way, and then slacken ; they creep up, 
hand over hand, loading and firing, and wavering and 
hailing, from the first line of works to the second ; they 
burst into a charge with a cheer, and go over it. Sheets 
of flame baptize them ; plunging shot tear away comrades 
on left and right; it is no longer shoulder to shoulder; it 
is God for us all ! Under tree trunks, among rocks, stum- 
bling over the dead> struggling with the living, facing the 
steady fire of eight thousand infantry poured down upon 
their heads as if it were the old historic curse from 
heaven, they wrestle with the Ridge. Ten, fifteen, 
twenty minutes go by, like a reluctant century. The 
batteries roll like a drum. Between the second and last 
lines of rebel works is the torrid zone of the battle. The 
hill sways up like a wall before them at an angle of forty- 
five degrees, but our brave mountaineers are clamber- 
ing steadily on — up— upward still ! You may think it 
strange, but I would not have recalled them if 1 could. 
They would have lifted you, as they did me, in full view 
of the heroic grandeur. They seemed to be spurning the 
dull earth under their feet, and going up to do Homeric 
battle with the greater gods. 



262 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



" And what do those men follow ? If you look, you 
shall see that the thirteen thousand are not a rushing herd 
of human creatures ; that, along the Gothic roof of the 
Ridge, a row of inverted Y's is slowly moving up almost 
in line, a mighty lettering on the hill's broad side. At 
the angles of those Y's is something that glitters like a 
wing. Your heart gives a great bound when you think 
what it is — the regimental flag — and, glancing along the 
front, count fifteen of those colors, that were borne at Pea 
Ridge, waved at Shiloh, glorified at Stone Eiver, riddled 
at Chickamauga. Nobler than Caesar's rent mantle are 
they all ! And up move the banners, now fluttering like 
a wounded bird, now faltering, now sinking out of sight. 
Three times the flag of one regiment goes down. And 
you know why. Three dead color sergeants lie just 
there. But the flag is immortal, thank God ! and up it 
comes again, and the Y's move on. At the left of Wood, 
three regiments of Baird — Turchin, the Russian thunder- 
bolt, is there — hurl themselves against a bold point strong 
with rebel works. For a long quarter of an hour three 
flags are perched and motionless on a plateau under the 
frown of the hill. Will they linger forever ? I give a 
look at the sun behind me ; it is not more than a hand's 
breadth from the edge of the mountain ; its level rays 
bridge the valley from Chattanooga to the Ridge with 
beams of gold ; it shines in the rebel faces ; it brings out 
the Federal blue ; it touches up the flags. Oh, for the 
voice that could bid that sun stand still ! I turn to the 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



263 



battle again ; those three flags have taken flight ! They 
are upward bound. 

" The race of the flags is growing every moment more 
terrible. There, at the right, a strange thing catches the 
eye ; one of the inverted Y's is turning right side up. 
The men struggling along the converging lines to overtake 
the flag, have distanced it, and there the colors are, sink- 
ing down in the centre between the rising flanks. The 
line wavers like a great billow, and up comes the banner 
again, as if heaved on a surge's shoulder. The iron 
sledges beat on. Hearts loyal and brave are on the anvil, 
all the way from base to summit of Mission Ridge, but 
those dreadful hammers never intermit. Swarms of bul- 
lets sweep the hill ; you can count twenty-eight balls in 
one little tree. Things are growing desperate up aloft. 
The rebels tumble rocks upon the rising line ; they light 
the fuses and roll shells down the steep ; they load the 
guns with handfuls of cartridges in their haste ; and, as if 
there were powder in the word, they shout, 1 Chicka- 
mauga ! ' down upon the mountaineers. But it would not 
all do ; and just as the sun, weary of the scene, was sink- 
ing out of sight, with magnificent bursts all along the line, 
exactly as you have seen the crested seas leap up at the 
breakwater, the advance surged over the crest, and in a 
minute those flags fluttered along the fringe where fifty 
rebel guns were kennelled. God bless the flag ! God 
save the Union ! 

" What colors were first upon the mountain battlement 



264 



LIFE OF GENERAL GEAXT. 



£ dare not try to say ; bright honor itself may be proud 
to bear — nay, proud to follow, the hindmost. Foot by foot 
they had fought up the steep, slippery with much blood ; 
let them go to glory together. A minute, and they were 
all there, fluttering along the Ridge from left to right. 
The rebel hordes rolled off to the north, rolled off to the 
east, like the clouds of a worn-out storm. Bragg, ten 
minutes before, was putting men back in the rifle pits. 
His gallant gray was straining a nerve for him now, and 
the man rode on horseback into Dixie's bosom, who, 
arrayed in some prophet's discarded mantle, foretold on 
Monday that the Yankees would leave Chattanooga in 
five days. They left in three, and by way of Mission 
Rid^e, straight over the mountains as their forefathers 
went ! As Sheridan rode up to the guns, the heels of 
Breckinridge's horse glittered in the last rays of sunshine. 
That crest was hardly 1 well off with the old love before it 
was on with the new.' 

"But the scene on the narrow plateau can never be 
painted. As the blue-coats surged over its edge, cheer on 
cheer rang like bells through the valley of the Cliicka- 
mauga. Men flung themselves exhausted upon the 
ground. They laughed and wept, shook hands, and em- 
braced ; turned round, and did all four over again. It 
was as wild as a carnival. Granger was received with a 
shout. 'Soldiers,' he said, 1 you ought to be court mar- 
tialled, every man of you. I ordered you to take the rifle 
pits, and you scaled the mountain ! ' But it was not 



LIFE OF GENERAL GBJLNT. 



265 



Mars' horrid front exactly with which he said it, for his 
cheeks were wet with tears as honest as the blood that 
reddened all the route. Wood uttered words that rang 
like 1 Napoleon's ; ' and Sheridan, the rowels at his horse's 
flanks, was ready for a dash down the Ridge with a { view 
halloo/ for a fox hunt. 

" But you must not think this was all there was of the 
scene on the crest, for fight and frolic were strano-elv min- 
gled. Xot a rebel had dreamed a man of us all would 
live to reach the summit ; and when a little wave of the 
Federal cheer rolled up and broke over the crest, they 
defiantly cried, ' Hurrah, and be d d ! ' the next min- 
ute a Union regiment followed the voice, the rebels deliv- 
ered their fire, and tumbled down in the rifle pits, their 
faces distorted with fear. Xo sooner had the soldiers 
scrambled to the Ridge and straightened themselves, than 
up muskets and away they blazed. One of them, fairly 
beside himself between laughing and crying, seemed puz- 
zled at which end of the piece he should load, and so, 
abandoning the gun and the problem together, he made a 
catapult of himself, and fell to hurling stones after the 

enemy. And he said, as he threw well, you know 

our 1 army swore terribly in Flanders.' Bayonets glinted 
and muskets rattled. General Sheridan's horse was killed 
under him. Richard was not in his role, and so he leaped 
upon a rebel gun for want of another. Rebel artillerists 
are driven from their batteries at the edge of the sword 
and the point of the bayonet. Two rebel guns are swung 



266 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



around upon their old masters. But there is nobody to 
load them. Light and heavy artillery do not belong to 
the winged kingdom. Two infantry men, claiming to be 
old artillerists, volunteer. Granger turns captain of the 
guns, and — 1 right about wheel ! ' — in a moment they are 
growling after the flying enemy. I say £ flying,' but that 
is figurative. The many run like Spanish merinos, but the 
few fight like gray wolves at bay ; they load and fire as 
they retreat ; they are fairly scorched out of position. 

" A sharpshooter, fancying Granger to be worth the 
powder, coolly tries his hand at him. The general hears 
the zip of a ball at one ear, but doesn't mind it. In a 
minute, away it sings at the other. He takes the hint, 
sweeps with his glass the direction whence the couple 
came, and brings up the marksman, just drawing a bead 
upon him again. At that instant a Federal argument per- 
suades the cool hunter, and down he goes. That long- 
range gun of his was captured, weighed twenty-four 
pounds, was telescope-mounted, a sort of mongrel how- 
itzer. 

" A colonel is slashing away with his sabre in a ring 
of rebels. Down goes his horse under him. They have 
him on trie hip. One of them is taking deliberate aim, 
when up rushes a lieutenant, claps a pistol to one ear, and 
roars in at the other, 1 Who the h — 1 are you shooting at ? ' 
The fellow drops his piece, gasps out, 1 1 surrender ! ' and 
the next instant the gallant lieutenant falls sharply wound- 
ed. He is a 1 roll of honor ' officer, straight up from the 
tanks, and he honors the roll. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



267 



" A little German in "Wood's division is pierced like 
the lid of a pepper box, but he is neither dead nor 
wounded. 1 See here,' he says, rushing up to a comrade ; 
i a pullet hit te preach of mine gun, a pullet in mine 
pocketbook, a pullet in mine coat tail ; dey shoots me 
tree, five time, and I gives dem h — 1 yet ! ' 

" But I can render you no idea of the battle caldron 
that boiled on the plateau. An incident here and there I 
have given you, and you must fill out the picture for your- 
self. Dead rebels lay thick around Bragg's headquarters 
and along the Ridge. Scabbards, broken arms, artillery 
horses, wrecks of gun carriages, and bloody garments 
strewed the scene. And, tread lightly, oh, loyal-hearted ! 
the boys in blue are lying there. No more the sounding 
charge ; no more the brave, wild cheer ; and never for 
them, sweet as the breath of the new-mown hay in the 
old home fields, 1 The Soldier's Return from the War.' 
A little waif of a drummer boy, somehow drifted up the 
mountain in the surge, lies there ; his pale face upward, a 
blue spot on his breast. MufHe his drum for the poor 
child and his mother. 

" Our troops met one loyal welcome on the height. 
How the old Tennesseean that gave it managed to get 
there, nobody knows ; but there he was, grasping a 
colonel's hand, and saying, while the tears ran clown his 
face, 1 God be thanked ! I foieiv the Yankees would 
fight ! ' With the receding flight and swift pursuit the 
battle died away in murmurs, far down the valley of the 



268 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Chickamauga. Sheridan was again in the saddle, and, 
with his command, spurring on after the enemy. Tall 
columns of smoke were rising at the left. The rebels 
were burning a train of stores a mile long. In the ex- 
ploding rebel caissons we had ' the cloud by day/ and 
now we are having 1 the pillar of fire by night. 1 The sun, 
the golden disc of the scales that balance day and night, 
had hardly gone down, when up, beyond Mission Eidge, 
rose the stiver side, for that night it was full moon. . The 
troubled day was gone. A Federal general sat in the seat 
of the man who, on the very Saturday "before the battle, 
had sent a flag to the Federal lines with the words : 

" 1 Humanity would dictate the removal of all non- 
combatants from Chattanooga, as I am about to shell the 
city ! ' 

" Our loss in killed, wounded, and missing, is reported 
at about four thousand. We captured over six thousand 
prisoners, besides the wounded left in our hands, forty 
pieces of artillery, five or six thousand small arms, and a 
large train. The enemy's loss in killed and wounded is 
not known." 

A new record of sacrifice, of mourning, and of re- 
splendent victory ! General Grant, under God's guid- 
ance, has redeemed the mighty Southwest ! 

When our victorious troops had fairly routed the 
astonished Bragg on Missionary Eidge, a lady, whose 
residence was within his lines, in alarm said to him : 
" What are you going to do with me, general ? " Re- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



269 



plied the Iragging rebel : " Lord, madam ! the Yankees 
will never dare to come up here." 

Relating the incident to our "boys," she added, with 
a blubber : " And it was not fifteen minutes before you 
were all around here." 

The sweep of General Hooker's column around the 
spur of Lookout, surprising the enemy, till he reached the 
dizzy heights and fought above the clouds of the misty day, 
was a deed of heroism which alone would have made the 
struggle and his name immortal. 

CO 

You have here the brief despatches of the opposing 
generals : 

Chattanooga, November 25, 1863— T 15 p. m. 
Major-General H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief: 

Although the battle lasted from early dawn till dark this evening, 
I believe I am not premature in announcing a complete victory over 
Bragg. 

Lookout Mountain top, all the rifle pits in Chattanooga Valley, 
and Missionary Ridge entire, have been carried, and are now held 
by us. 

U. S. Grant, Major-General. 

Chickamauga, jSTovember 25, 1863. 
General S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector-General : 

After several unsuccessful assaults on our lines to-day, the enemy • 
carried the left centre about four o'clock. The whole left soon gave 
way in considerable disorder. The right maintained its ground, and 
repelled every attack. I am withdrawing all to this point. 

Braxton Bragg. 



270 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Wrote Quartermaster-General Meigs to Secretary 
Stanton : 

" Bragg's remaining troops left early in the night, and 
the battle of Chattanooga, after days of manoeuvring and 
fighting, was won. The strength of the rebellion in the 
centre is broken. Burnsicle is relieved from danger in 
East Te nnessee. Kentucky and Tennessee are rescued. 
Georgia and the Southeast are threatened in the rear, and 
another victory is added to the chapter of 1 Unconditional 
Surrender Grant.' 

" To-night the estimate of captures is several thousand 
prisoners and thirty pieces of artillery. 

" Our loss for so great a victory is not severe. 

" Bragg is firing the railroad as he retreats toward 
Dalton. Sherman is in hot pursuit. 

" To-day I viewed the battle field, which extends for 
six miles along Missionary Ridge, and for several miles on 
Lookout Mountain. 

" Probably not so well-directed, so well-ordered a 
battle, has taken place during the war. But one assault 
was repulsed; but that assault, by calling to that point 
the rebel reserves, prevented them repulsing any of the 
others. 

" A few days since, Bragg sent to General Grant a 
flag of truce, advising him that it would be prudent to 
remove any non-combatants who might be still in Chatta- 
nooga. No reply has been returned ; but the combatants 
having removed from the vicinity, it is probable that non- 
combatants can remain without imprudence." 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



271 



It is related of General Scott, the old veteran and 
hero of the last war with England (which, we fear, will 
not long be the last), that, in conversation with a gentle- 
man in office at Washington, about the victories, he ex- 
pressed his surprise at General Grant's success. He 
remarked : 

" General Grant has shown more military skill than 
any other general on our side. And I am the more sur- 
prised, as I can only remember him in the Mexican war 
as a young lieutenant of undoubted courage, but giving no 
promise whatever of anything beyond ordinary abilities." 

Among the heroes who fell at Chattanooga, was 
Colonel O'Meara, of the Irish Legion. "When General 
Grant heard that the body was coffined for its homeward 
journey, he hastened to the spot where it lay. Standing 
beside it, he said : 

" Lift the coffin lid, that I may take a last look at the 
gallant colonel of the Irish Legion." 

"Writes Larkee : 

" He was touched at the sight of one whom he had 
honored and publicly thanked before he had been two 
months in the Army of the Tennessee. O'Meara's de- 
fence of the trestle work, a few miles north of Holly 
Springs, Miss., when Van Dora made a raid there in 
December, 1862, and which saved Grant's army from 
starvation, was never forgotten by the General. The 
spectators were moved at the sad and touching farewell of 
the Commander of the Department of the Mississippi from 



272 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the corpse of a young Irish soldier, who had forfeited his 
life to the belief that ' the highest and best duty of all, 
native or foreign born, was to stand by the flag which is 
the hope of the exile, the emblem of philanthropy, and 
the ensign of the American people.' " 



CHAPTER XX. 



General Sherman at Knoxville— The President and the Victories — Major- 
General Grant's Congratulations — Colonel Ely, the Indian Sachem's 
Tribute — Excitement in "Washington — A Medal — Other Honors — Hon. 
Mr. "Washburn's Speech— Grant's untiring Activity — Visits a sick Child 
— He is invited to a Banquet— Accepts the Honor— The brilliant Festival 




ENERAL LONGSTREET lias learned the rea- 
, son why he was allowed to besiege Knoxville. 
The news of Hooker's mountain climbing, and 
of Yankee flags on Missionary Ridge, dispelled 
his dream of success. The proud rebel is exas- 



perated, and determined to save his name from sharing 
the disgrace of Chattanooga. So, November 29th, he 
dashed against Fort Saunders, but only got sorely bruised 
himself. Then, pursuing columns in the track of the de- 
feated foe beyond Ringgold, Ga., wheeled, and marched on 
Longstreet. Finding himself hard pressed, like Joe John- 
ston at Jackson, he deemed " prudence the better part of 
valor," and made his escape in the night of Decem- 
ber 4th. 



274 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



This completed the great work of General Grant in 
his new Department ; and President Lincoln, upon receiv- 
ing the glad tidings, issued two brief messages. One of 
them was addressed to the people ; the other, a day later, 
to General Grant : 

Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, December 7, 1863. 
Reliable information being received that the insurgent force is 
retreating from East Tennessee, under circumstances rendering it 
probable that the Union forces cannot hereafter be dislodged from 
that important position ; and esteeming this to be of high national 
consequence, I recommend that all loyal people do, on receipt of this 
information, assemble at their places of worship, and render special 
homage and gratitude to Almighty God for this great advancement 
of the National cause. 

A. Lincoln. 
Washington, December 8. 

Major-General Grant : 

Understanding that your lodgment at Chattanooga and Knoxville 
is now secure, I wish to tender you, and all under your command, 
my more than thanks — -my profoundest gratitude for the skill, cour- 
age, and perseverance with which you and they, over so great diffi- 
culties, have eifected that important object. God bless you all ! 

A. Lincoln. 

Wajor-General Grant's congratulations to his magnifi- 
cent army, two days after, is a noble tribute from an un- 
assuming, magnanimous heart. His acknowledgment of 
God's help is evidently earnest and sincere : 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



275 



Headquartees Military Division of the Mississippi, ) 
In the Field, Chattanooga, Tenn., Dec. 10, 1863. ) 

The General Commanding takes this opportunity of returning his 
sincere thanks and congratulations to the brave armies of the Cum- 
berland, the Ohio, the Tennessee, and their comrades from the Poto- 
mac, for the recent splendid and decisive successes achieved over the 
enemy. In a short time you have recovered from him the control of 
the Tennessee River from Bridgeport to Knoxville. You dislodged 
him from his great stronghold upon Lookout Mountain, drove him 
from Chattanooga Valley, wrested from his determined grasp the pos- 
session of Missionary Ridge, repelled with heavy loss to him his re- 
peated assaults upon Knoxville, forcing him to raise the siege there, 
driving him at all points, utterly routed and discomfited, beyond the 
limits of the State. By your noble heroism and determined courage, 
you have most effectually defeated the plans of the enemy for re- 
gaining possession of the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. You 
have secured positions from which no rebellious power can drive or 
dislodge you. For all this the General Commanding thanks you col- 
lectively and individually. The loyal people of the United States 
thank and bless you. Their hopes and prayers for your success 
against this unholy rebellion are with you daily. Their faith in you 
will not be in vain. Their hopes will not be blasted. Their prayers 
to Almighty God will be answered. You will yet go to other fields 
of strife ; and, with the invincible bravery and unflinching loyalty to 
justice and right which have characterized you in the past, you will 
prove that no enemy can withstand you, and that no defences, how- 
ever formidable, can check your onward march. 

By order of Major-General U. S. Grant. 

General Bragg lost his command, in losing Chatta- 
nooga. General Hardee took his place ; of whom Gen- 



276 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



eral Grant, who knew these men, said : " He is my 
choice " 

Colonel Ely, Indian Sachem, and Chief of the Tona- 
wandas and Seneca Nation, who was on the staff, tells you 
what he saw and thinks of the Commander of three grand 
armies : 

" I need not describe to you the recent battle of Chat- 
tanooga. The papers have given every possible detail 
concerning it. I may only say that I saw it all, and was 
in the five days' fight. Of General Grant's staff, only one 
was wounded — a Lieutenant Towner, Assistant Chief of 
Artillery, whose parents formerly lived at Batavia, 1ST. Y., 
but now of Chicago. It has been a matter of universal 
wonder in this army that General Grant himself was not 
killed, and that no more accidents occurred to his staff; 
for the General was always in the front (his staff with 
him, of course), and perfectly heedless of the storm of 
hissing bullets and screaming shell flying around him. 
His apparent want of sensibility does not arise from 
heedlessness, heartlessness, or vain military affectation, 
but from a sense of the responsibility resting upon him 
when in battle. When at Einggold, we rode for half a 
mile in the face of the enemy, under an incessant fire of 
cannon and musketry ; nor did we ride fast, but upon an 
ordinary trot, and not once, do I believe, did it enter the 
General's mind that he was in danger. I was by his side, 
and watched him closely. In riding that distance, we 
were going to the front, and I could see that he was study- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



277 



ing the positions of the two armies, and, of course, plan- 
ning how to defeat the enemy, who was here making a 
most desperate stand, and was slaughtering our men fear- 
fully. After defeating and driving the enemy here, we 
returned to Chattanooga. 

" Another feature in General Grant's personal move- 
ments is, that he requires no escort beyond his staff, so 
regardless of danger is he. Roads are almost useless to 
him, for he takes short cuts through fields and woods ; and 
will swim his horse through almost any stream that ob- 
structs his way. Nor does it make any difference to him 
whether he has daylight for his movements ; for he will 
ride from breakfast until two o'clock in the morning, and 
that, too, without eating. The next day he will repeat 
the dose, until he finishes the work. Now, such things 
come hard upon the staffj but they have learned how to 
bear it." 

The excitement in the nation's capital over the success 
of our arms under General Grant, was scarcely less than 
when the lightning conveyed the news of Ticksburg's 
evacuation. Congress assembled the very day the thrill- 
ing intelligence spread through the city. Soon as the 
business could properly come before the House, Hon. Mr. 
"Washburn, of Galena, where General Grant had his 
leather store, rose, and gave the usual notice that he 
should introduce two bills : one, " to revive the grade of 
lieutenant-general of the army ; " the other, " to pro 
vide that a medal be struck for General Grant, and that 



278 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



a vote of thanks be given him, and the officers of the 
army." 

Ten days later, the annexed act of Congress received 
the President's signature : 

LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES 

Passed at the First Session of the Thirty-eighth Congress. 
[Public Resolution No. 1.] 

Joint Resolution of Thanks to Major-General Ulysses S. Grant, 
and the officers and soldiers who have fought under his command 
during this Rebellion ; and providing that the President of the 
United States shall cause a medal to be struck, to be presented to 
Major-General Grant in the name of the people of the United 
States of America. 

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That the thanks of 
Congress be and they hereby are presented to Major-General Ulysses 
S. Grant, and through him to the officers and soldiers who have 
fought under his command during this Rebellion, for their gallantry 
and good conduct in the battles in which they have been engaged ; 
and that the President of the United States be requested to cause a 
gold medal to be struck, with suitable emblems, devices, and inscrip- 
tions, to be presented to Major-General Grant. 

Sec. 2. And be it further resolved, That, when the said medal 
shall have been struck, the President shall cause a copy of this joint 
resolution to be engrossed on parchment, and shall transmit the 
same, together with the said medal, to Major-General Grant, to be 
presented to him in the name of the people of the United States of 
America. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



279 



Sec. 3. And be it further resolved, That a sufficient sum of 
money to carry this resolution into effect is hereby appropriated out 
of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. 

Schuyler Colfax, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

H. Hamlix, 

Vice-President of the United States and 
President of the Senate. 

Approved December 17, 1863. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

The token of a grateful nation's regard was designed 
by the artist Leutze. The picture on one side of the 
medal was to consist of a profile likeness of the hero, sur- 
rounded by a wreath of laurels ; his name and the year of 
his victories inscribed upon it. and the whole surrounded 
Dy a galaxy of stars. The design for the reverse was 
original, appropriate, and beautiful. It was the figure of 
Fame seated in a graceful attitude on the American eagle, 
which, with outspread wings, seems preparing for flight. 
In her fight hand she held the symbolical trump, and in 
her left a scroll on which were inscribed the names of the 
gallant chief's various battles, viz. : Corinth, Yicksburg, 
Mississippi River, arid Chattanooga. On her head was a 
helmet, ornamented, in Indian fashion, with feathers radia- 
ting from it. In front of the eagle, its breast resting 
against it, was the emblematical shield of the United 
States. Just underneath this group, their stems crossing 
each other, were single sprigs of the pine and the palm, 



280 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



typical of the North and South. Above the figure of 
Fame, in a curved line, the motto, " Proclaim Liberty 
throughout the Land." The edge was surrounded, like 
the obverse, vath a circle of stars of a style peculiar to 
the Byzantine period, and rarely seen except in illumi- 
nated manuscripts of that age. These stars were more in 
ruamber than the existing States — of course, including 
those of the South — thereby suggesting further additions 
in the future to the Union. 

Honors came from the Executive mansion, Halls of 
Congress, and, not the least, from the high places of reli- 
gious sentiment and enterprise in the land. The Cincin- 
nati Conference of the Methodist Church, at the anniver- 
sary of its Missionary Society, elected him an Honorary 
Member. Nearly the same time, he received a note from 
Morristown, X. J., informing him that he had been elected 
Life Director of that Society, by a contribution to it of 
one hundred and fifty dollars. The replies of the General 
are characteristically briefj and yet expressive : 

Chattanooga, December 7, 1863. 
Rev. F. Marlay, Secretary Society : 

Dear Sir : Through you, permit me to express my thanks to the 
Society of which you are the honored Secretary, for the compliment 
they have seen fit to pay me by electing me one of its members. 

I accept the election as a token of earnest support, by members 
of the Methodist Missionary Society of the Cincinnati Conference, to 
the cause of our country in this hour of trial. 

I have the honor to be, very truly, your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Major-General U. S. A. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



281 



Headquarters, Military Dist. of the Mississippi, ) 
Chattanooga, Tenn., December 16, 1863. ) 

To the Key. Lewis R. Dunn, Pastor of M. E. Church, Morris- 
town, N. J. 

Sir : In reply to your letter of December 19th, to Major-General 
U. S. Grant, he directs me to express his gratitude to the Christian 
people of Morristown for their prayerful remembrance of him before 
the throne of the Most High, and to thank them, through you, for 
the honor conferred upon him. Be good enough to send his Certifi- 
cate of Membership to Mrs. IT. S. Grant, Louisville, Ky. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. H. Wilson, Brigadier-General. 

A few days later, the Legislature of New York 
passed the following resolution, similar to one by the 
similar body in Ohio : 

"Resolved, That the thanks of the people of this State 
be tendered to General Grant, and his army, for their glo- 
rious victories in the valley of the Mississippi, and the 
still more glorious victory at Mission Ridge and Lookout 
Mountain, and that a certified copy of this resolution be 
forwarded to General Grant." 

From Colonel Colt's magnificent manufactory of pis- 
tols — since burned to the ground — was ordered, by friends, 
a pair of revolvers of the richest style. They were inlaid 
with gold, and the cartridge boxes and other appendages 
of solid silver. 

Early in February, 1864, the debate arose on the 
lieutenant-generalship — an office held only, in our history, 




282 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



by "Washington and General Scott. It gives the honored 
officer active control of the entire army of the United 
States, and makes him second in command only to the 
President, who stands at the head of the troops. Mr. 
Washburn, in his speech on the question, said : 

" Look at what this man has done for his country, for 
humanity and civilization — this modest and unpretending 
general, whom gentlemen appear to be so much afraid of. 
He has fought more battles and won more victories than 
any man living ; he has captured more prisoners and taken 
more guns than any general of modern times. To us in 
the great valley of the West, he has rendered a service in 
opening our great channel of communication to the ocean, 
so that the great 1 Father of Waters 1 now goes 1 unvexed 
to the sea,' which endears him to all our hearts. Sir, 
when his blue legions crowned the crest of Vicksburg, and 
the hosts of rebeldom laid their arms at the feet of this 
great conqueror, the rebel Confederacy was cut in twain, 
and the backbone of the Rebellion broken. 

" At that moment was seen in General Grant that 
greatest of all gifts of a military man — the gift of de- 
ciding instantly amid the pressure of the greatest emer- 
gencies. I was with him when Porter reported his inabil- 
ity to reduce the batteries ; and in an instant he made his 
new dispositions, and gave his orders. They were, to 
debark all his troops, and march them down three miles 
below Grand Gulf; 'and,' said he, 'after nightfall I will 
run every transport I have below their batteries, and not 



LIFE OF GENERAL GEAXT. 



283 



one shall be injured.' And, sure enough, when it became 
dark, Porter again attacked the batteries with h is neet, 
and, amid the din and clatter of the attack, the transports 
all safely passed Grand Gulf. 

" And that which must ever be regarded by the histo- 
rian as the most extraordinary feature of this campaign, is 
the astounding fact, that, when General Grant landed in 
the State of Mississippi, and made his campaign in the 
enemy's country, he had a smaller force than the enemy. 
There he was, in the enemv's countrv, cut off, in a 
measure, from his supplies, with a great river in his rear, 
and in one of the most defensible of countries, through 
which he had to pass. To his indomitable courage and 
energy, to his unparalleled celerity of movement, striking 
the enemy in detail, and beating him on every field, is the 
country indebted for those wonderful successes of that cam- 
paign, which have not only challenged the gratitude and 
admiration of our own countrymen, but the admiration of 
the best military men of all nations. My colleague [Mr. 
Farnsworth] has well said, that General Grant is no * car- 
pet knight.' If gentlemen could know him as I know 
him, and as his soldiers know him, they would not be so 
reluctant about conferring this honor. If they could have 
seen him as I saw him on that expedition ; if they could, 
have witnessed his terrible earnestness, his devotion to his 
duty, his care, his vigilance, and his unchallenged courage, 
I think their opposition to this bill would give way. 

" But gentlemen say, "Wait, and confer this rank when 



284 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the war is over. Sir, I want it conferred now, because it 
is nay most solemn and earnest conviction that General 
Grant is the man upon whom we must depend to fight out 
this rebellion in the field, and bring this war to a speedy 
and triumphant close." 

The bill passed ; there being only nineteen votes 
against it. 

General Grant improved the cessation of field opera- 
tions, in planning greater things for the future ; in issuing 
orders to protect deserters from the rebel ranks, cutting off 
army traders, giving security to tSe property of loyal citi- 
zens, and in providing for the comfort of the soldiers. 

"When he left Chattanooga on a tour of inspection to 
the outposts of his department, accompanied by General 
Sherman, there was much regret among the brave fellows, 
who had learned to love him. They had seen him walk- 
ing with a cane about the streets, slowly, and bowed with 
suffering and care. They had also seen him " riding on 
the battle's edge," its guiding genius, all forgetful of his 
weakness. More and better still than this to them, the 
" boys " could say : " Then, Grant is so easy to approach." 
He invited their confidence, and never repelled them. 

" General Grant will have no one between him and his 
army but his adjutant, Brigadier-General Rawlings, who is 
a hearty, jovial, plain-spoken, hard-working staff officer, 
just such as is indispensable to an energetic chief like 
< Old Vicksburg.' " 

The victor sailed in the steamer " Point Rock " for 



I 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



285 



Nashville, thence to Knoxville, Term. It was now mid- 
winter, but the indomitable leader determined to see for 
himself the route for supplies through Cumberland Gap. 
Down the mountain sides drifts the snow. For thirty 
years no such winter storms had howled and beaten 
around the mountain spurs. See the yet physically un- 
sound man, in the simplest attire, walking over the dim- 
cult paths, with his officers, all driving the horses before 
them. He would take nothing second hand, and there- 
fore rarely made blunders. 

At Knoxville the excited people called for a speech ; 
but he refused. Then they shouted : " Up in a chair? 
that we may see him." 

" Half pushed by General Leslie Coombs, General 
Grant mounted the improvised rostrum. General Coombs 
then introduced him in a neat little speech, in which he 
said that ' General Grant had told him in confidence — and 
he would not repeat it — that he never had made a speech, 
knew nothing about speech-making, and had no disposition 
"to learn.' After satisfying the curiosity of the people, but 
without ever having opened his mouth, General Grant 
dismounted from his chair and retired, amid the cheers of 
the assemblage. 

" His arrival at the Gait House was not generally 
known ; and few, who had not looked at the books, sus- 
pected that the little man in faded blue overcoat, with 
heavy red whiskers, and keen, bright eyes, the hero of 
the two rebel Gibraltars of Vicksburg and Chattanooga, 



286 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



stood before them. This people have been so used to and 
surfeited with brilliantly dressed and cleanly shaven staff 
officers, with every pretence star or double star that has 
flitted across this horizon, that they never dreamed of 
recognizing in the blue-overcoated men who figured in the 
scene with him, the admirable and hard-working staff 
officers who have aided in no little degree to General 
Grant's success." 

Having opened the railway from Nashville to Chatta- 
nooga, to the joy of the troops, whose fare had been 
meagre enough because the supplies could not be obtained, 
he returned to the latter place January 13th. 

The last days of this month saw our hero on a new 
and touching journey. A child lay sick at St. Louis, and 
the warrior was lost in the father. His family attracted 
the interest of his manly heart, and his steps. 

Arriving at the hotel, he entered his name " U. S. 
Grant, Chattanooga." The invalid was soon better ; and 
he answered a long and highly flattering letter of invi- 
tation to a public dinner, in a few appropriate words. 
He said : 

u Gentlemen : Your highly complimentary invitation 
1 to meet old acquaintances and make new ones,' at a din- 
ner to be given by citizens of St. Louis, is just received. 

" I will state that I have only visited St. Louis on this 
occasion to see a sick child. Finding, however, that he 
has passed the crisis of his disease, and is pronounced out 
of danger by his physicians, I accept the invitation." 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



287 



After visiting the University, and other places of in- 
terest, Friday evening, January 29th, 1864, the banquet 
was spread, and he sat down to it amid the cheers of an 
enthusiastic multitude. 

My reader, let us look in upon the festival, at six 
and a half o'clock in the evening. 

The three long tables are richly laden with all the 
variety the markets afford. At the centre of one sits 
Judge Treat, the president. At his right, you notice a 
man of medium height, with sandy hair and whiskers, 
both short ; his face without any striking expression, ex- 
cepting the compressed lips — always a mark of decision 
and firmness ; his blue eye mildly and modestly glancing 
along the lines of enthusiastic guests, and a flush of em- 
barrassment on his bronzed cheeks : that is General Grant. 
On the left, below Generals Eosecrans and Osterhaus, sits 
a silver-haired, hale, and attractive old gentleman ap- 
proaching seventy ; this happy guest is Mr. Dent, the 
father-in-law of General Grant. Officers and "honbr- 
ables " are scattered among the two hundred guests ; 
while that parlor opening out of the hall is radiant with 
female beauty and enthusiasm, concentrating the light of 
beaming eyes upon the plainest, most quiet and silent par- 
taker of the festivities. Over the splendid display of e 
social enjoyment and patriotic hero-worship, national ban- 
ners are hung in tasteful drapings against the elegant 
walls. The honor of " the distinguished guest, Major- 
General Grant," is proposed, and "Hail to the chief" 



288 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



breaks in stirring strains from the polished instruments of 
the band. Now its echoes die away, and General Grant, 
who could do no less, rises. " Hurrah ! hurrah ! " fairly 
rocks the spacious saloons, and each feature of every guest 
speaks the intense emotions of the citizens of the great 
Southwest. 

Never did a man, great or small, make a briefer 
speech than did " Unconditional Surrender Grant," when 
a lull in the cheering made it possible. He said : 

" Gentlemen : In response, it will be impossible for 
me to do more than to thank you." 

In connection with the toast to St. Louis, was read a 
letter of the City Council, testifying " their great esteem, 
regard, and indebtedness due his modest, unswerving ener- 
gies, swayed neither by the mighty successes which have 
crowned his genius and efforts in behalf of the Govern- 
ment, nor the machinations of politics — evidences of the 
true patriot and soldier." 

A punning sentiment was also given : 

" Major- General Grant — He is emphatically U. S. 
Grant, for he has given US and the U. S. an earnest of 
those victories which will finally rescue this nation from 
the Rebellion and its cause — American slavery." 

When, a little later, the people gathered in the street, 
serenaded the honored chief, and called repeatedly for a 
speech, he only said, from the balcony : 

" Gentlemen : I thank you for this honor. I can- 
not make a speech. It is something I have never done, 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



289 



and never intend to do, and I beg you will excuse 
me." 

Then the " welkin rans; again " with cheers ; while 
the object of them, apparently unmoved, took a cigar, lit 
it, and seemed more interested in the flashing rockets 
rising gracefully and exploding overhead, than in the 
crowd below. 

Again went up the startling cry to him, " Speech ! 
speech ! " a Puff — puff," answered the Havana. No 
speech followed the wreath of smoke. 

Judge Lord, considerably excited, touched with his 
hand General Grant's shoulder, saying : 

" Tell them you can fight for them, but can't talk to 
them. Do tell them that-! " 

Coolly replied General Grant : " I must get some one 
else to say that for me." 

But, " Speech ! speech ! " continued to rend the night 
air, till he was compelled to add : 

" Gentlemen : Making speeches is not my business. 
I never did it in my life, and never will. I thank you, 
however, for your attendance here." 

The surging throng sent up once more the shouts of 
applause, as General Grant withdrew to seek repose. 

Besieged by the ladies of the Sanitary Fair soon to be 
held in St. Louis, he consented to remain. A few days 
after, he wrote them a letter much longer than any speech 
he ever made, expressing grateful appreciation of the be- 
19 



290 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



nevolent work in their hands, but declining attendance 
personally, on account of pressing official business. 

Thus closed a spontaneous, hearty expression of admi- 
ration and respect for the victorious son of the West. 

Politicians were getting more anxious about his poli- 
tics, as he rose in the popular regard. A relative said to 
him, on one occasion : 

" General, I have been inquired of, to-daj, about your 
politics." 

" Did you give the parties any information ? " was the 
quiet query. 

u I did not," was the answer, " for I don't know what 
your politics are." 

Knocking the ashes from his cigar, the General con- 
tinued : 

" When I resided at the South, I had the opinions 
and prejudices of Southern people against the Eepublican 
party. I brought those opinions and prejudices with me 
when I came to Illinois. Had I taken active part in poli- 
tics, I should have been with the party opposed to the 
Republicans. I watched Mr. Lincoln's course, and was 
satisfied with his patriotism. But these are not the times 
for parties. Indeed, in this crisis there can be but two 
parties — those for the country, those for its foes. I belong 
to the party of the Union. Those who are the most 
earnest in carrying on the war and putting down the 
Rebellion, have my support. As a soldier, I obey the 
laws and execute the orders of all my superiors. I expect 
every man under me to do the same." 



CHAPTER XXI. 



The Spring Campaign— G-eneral Grant at Washington— Scenes in the 
Hotel— The Levee— The Presentation of the Commission of Lieutenant- 
Generalship— G-eneral Grant's Reply— The summit of Honor— He visits 
the Potomac Army— The Fancy Soldier — The Crisis. 

yT is now February. Thoughts of the spring cam- 
paign fill the minds of President, Cabinet, and 
generals. No brain is more busy than General 
Grant's. Expeditions are sent out to ascertain the 
position and force of the enemy ; but no definite, 
decisive movement is arranged, when General Grant is 
called to Washington. Taking his little son with him, 
early in March he set out for the capital. 

Soon after his arrival at " Willard's Hotel," he was 
recognized ; and, as he took his seat at the table, the sev- 
eral hundred guests arose, and loudly, warmly cheered 
him. The ladies waved the white handkerchiefs. Hands 
were extended, and a scene similar to that at Memphis 
and St. Louis transpired. Such has always been the hom- 
age of the people to their successful leaders — to the men 
who wielded victoriously great armies, or power of any 



292 



LIFE OF GENERAL GR A.NT. 



kind. And it is a signal fact, that, with all the horrors of 
war, military heroes awaken the loudest plaudits, and win 
the greenest laurels. 

At evening occurred the President's levee. The word 
levee means the time of rising. It was applied to a morn- 
ing assemblage waiting on a prince. In this country it is 
used to designate the gatherings at the Executive mansion 
at night. Whoever wishes to go, is welcome there. The 
President stands in one of the elegant rooms, to shake 
hands with the throng passing him, as they march through 
the halls and apartments. The band plays, and the whole 
scene is a brilliant exhibition of our republican country 
and government. At one moment, the Chief Magistrate 
takes the delicate palm of an aristocratic lady ; the next, 
perhaps, that of a poor neighbor whom she never deigns 
to notice. 

General Grant, on this occasion, fairly eclipsed the 
President. He was borne along by the human tide, and 
lifted to a sofa, where he could be seen by them all. 
Thus, as the moon controls the waters, did" the embar- 
rassed General, without effort to do so, attract and govern 
the strong currents of feeling, sweeping in whatever 
direction, he moved. 

Such display was not to his taste. "When he left the 
gay scene, he said to a friend : 

u I hope to get away from Washington soon, for I am 
tired of this 1 show business.' " 

The day following — March 9th — he was summoned to 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



293 



a more quiet meeting at the " "White House/' President 
Lincoln was there, his Cabinet, General Halleck, and other 
officials. 

General Grant came in, and the President, rising, held 
in his hand a document creating him Lieutenant-General, 
and said : 

" General Grant : The nation's approbation of what 
•you have already done, and its reliance on you for what 
remains to do in the existing great struggle, is now pre- 
sented with this commission, constituting you Lieutenant- 
General of the Army of the United States. 

il With this high honor devolves on you a correspond- 
ing responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, 
under God, it will sustain you. 

" I scarcely need add, that, with what I here speak 
for the country, goes my own hearty personal concur- 
rence." 

General Grant received the commission from the Presi- 
dent, and made the following modest answer : 

" Mr. President : I accept this commission with 
gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of 
the noble armies who have fought on so many battle fields 
for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor 
not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight 
of the responsibility now devolving on me. I know that, 
if it is properly met, it will be due to these armies; and, 
above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads 
both nations and men." 



294 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



The hero-boy lias now reached the summit of military 
honor and power in this country. Less than three rears 
before, he was made colonel of an Illinois regiment ; his 
command has rapidly widened, till it covers the entire field 
of conflict. And it is well for the youth of our land that 
the renown was earned by an honest, earnest, upright, and 
unassuming devotion to his country. He was no " favor- 
ite of fortune ? ' beyond that of a favoring Providence 
blessing a faithful performance of duty. 

A few days before — February 2 2d, the anniversary 
of Washington's birthday — near General Warren's head- 
quarters, an immense ballroom, erected at no small ex- 
pense, had been thronged with dancers. I am sure I shall 
not soon lose the impression the unfinished building made 
on my mind, when, a few weeks before, I saw it. A 
ballroom on a battle field ! But the ladies from a distance 
were delighted with the soldierly frolic, and approached 
General Grant on the subject, expressing the hope there 
would be another in the Army of the Potomac. 

He coolly listened, and then assured them that, if 
another were attempted, he should stop it by special 
order. It was no time or place for music and dancing, 
excepting the martial airs and firm step of the warriors, 
many of whom were soon to fall in the strife. 

The same day the ball came off, the President had 
issued an order for preparations in every department of 
the army for an early advance. For this grand action 
General Grant was ready. It suited his ideas of carrying 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



295 



on the war. He soon revealed his purpose to move on 
Richmond. It was not the capital mainly he wanted, "but 
to crush, or fatally cripple, the well- disciplined, formidable 
army under the splendid leadership of General Lee, was the 
serious work he resolved to undertake. Notwithstanding 
the repeated failures before, the losses and retreats of the 
noble Army of the Potomac, the victor of the West was 
willing to try his strength against the accomplished com- 
mander of " the flower of Southern chivalry " in the East. 
But one condition was demanded by him, and granted — 
the entire control of the army for one hundred days. 
That is, for that period the campaign should be his own ; 
he would assume the high responsibility of its success, 
with no interference from Washington, however well or 
wisely intended. This arrangement gave unity of plan 
and harmony in action. He soon visited the able and 
gallant General Meade, the hero of Gettysburg, at his 
headquarters, and inspired new confidence and hope in 
officers and troops. Strict discipline was enforced. The 
speculators and hangers-on in the field began to disappear. 
Fancy soldiering was made contemptible, as it ought to be. 
A pleasant story related of General Grant illustrates hi3 
course in regard to it : 

While he was looking over his new field, near Culpep- 
per Court House, his headquarters, in a drizzling rain, 
attended only by his orderly, a carriage approached him. 
It was drawn by a pair of fine horses, and attendants 
escorted it. When near him, the driver reined up, the 



296 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



door was opened, and out sprang a dashing officer. He 
inquired if that dripping, unostentatious man was General 
Grant. The latter replied in the affirmative. The officer 
added, that he wished to see the General on business. 

" Come, walk with me," answered General Grant. 

There was no other way to do. Into the mud went 
the polished boots ; and unprotected from the rain, the 
gay uniform was worn, till, like a peacock after a tempest 
has beaten down its plumage and besprinkled it with dirt, 
the officer stole back to the carriage with soaked, saturated 
apparel, and drooping feather. The parting counsel of his 
commander to set an example of a more becoming style 
of living, was thus enforced by a baptism into the new 
order of things he was not likely to forget. 

The nation, inspirited by the grand successes of the 
Lieutenant-General, held breath in view of the great and 
decisive crisis reached. Three years of bloody war, 
which it was supposed three months would close, had left 
their mournful record. The strain to supply " the sinews 
of war " had been increasing every year. Men and 
money had been given lavishly. Great victories had been 
won. Still, the army which we first confronted on the 
" sacred soil of Virginia," and the capital of the grow- 
ingly desperate " Confederacy," were apparently stronger 
than ever. It was no vainglorious nor ordinary act, to 
step forth into such a condition of affairs, the master-spirit 
of the vast and momentous issue. 

But the time of renewed and costly activity has come. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



297 



God's finger has, it seems, designated the man for the 

hour and the work. 

"We find another good story, which sounds like the 

General. A visitor to the army called upon him, one 

morning, and found the General sitting in his tent, smok- 
er O * 

ino\ and talking to one of his staff officers. The stran- 
ger approached the chieftain, and inquired of him as 
follows : 

" General, if you flank Lee, and get between him and 
Eichmond, will you not uncover Washington, and leave it 
a prey to the enemy ? " 

General Grant, discharging a cloud of smoke from his 
mouth, indifferently replied : " Yes, I reckon so." 

The stranger, encouraged by a reply, propounded ques- 
tion Xo. 2 : " Genera], do you not think Lee can detach 
sufficient force from his army to reenforce Beauregard and 
overwhelm Butler ? " 

"Not a doubt of it,'' replied the General. 

Becoming fortified by his success, the stranger pro- 
pounded question Xo. 3, as follows : " General, is there 
not danger that General Johnston may come up and re- 
enforce Lee, so that the latter will swing round and cut 
off your communications, and seize your supplies ? " 

" Very likely," was the cool reply of the General, and 
he knocked the ashes from the end of his cigar. 

The stranger, horrified at the awful fate about to befall 
General Grant and his army, made his exit, and hastened 
to Washington to communicate the news. 



298 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



A Galena neighbor, who visited New York about this 
time, seemed utterly confounded with the sudden growth 
of his neighbor, the tanner. He couldn't account for it, 
for. he was not a marked man in his home, and nobody 
supposed him a great man. He seldom talked, asked no 
advice, gave none to any one, but always did what he 
agreed to, and at the time. 



I 



CHAPTER XXII. 




The Advance— Richmond— The path to the Rebel Capital— The "Wilder- 
ness"— The opening of Battle— The Days of Carnage— The Death of 
Sedgwick— Of General Rice— General Grant's Strategy— General But- 
ler—Sheridan—Sherman—The grand Flanking March to North Anna— 
Chickahominy— James River— What the Rebels think. 

) LANCE over the prospective track of the 
grand arniy, reenforced by several corps from 
the Western field. A hundred and seventeen 
miles from "Washington lies Bichmond, the 
capital of the " Old Dominion/' and of the 
new Confederacy of slaveholders. Its population, ordi- 
narily, did not exceed sixty thousand. The situation is 
pleasant, on the James Biver. As a war centre, it has 
become a great hospital and Sodom. The sick and 
wounded in body, and the corrupt in heart, are the ruling 
majority in the high place of treason, second only to 
Charleston in this distinction. Under the accomplished 
engineer, Beauregard, who, since the first year of the 
conflict, has multiplied defences, exhausting his skill and 
resources, it presents circles and angles of fortifications. 



300 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



perhaps unsurpassed by any city in the world. Below 
Richmond is Fort Darling ; and on the same side, to 
guard an approach, is Petersburg, also strongly fortified 
and garrisoned. Between the National capital and Rich- 
mond lies Lee's veteran army, waiting for Generals Grant 
and Meade to move. The former has the general direction 
of the grand campaign, while General Meade is commander 
of the Potomac Army. Culpepper Court House, ten miles 
north of the Rapidan, between it and the Rappahannock, 
and about seventy-five miles from Washington, is the 
headquarters of General Grant. Ten miles on the other, 
or south side of the river, at Orange Court House, is the 
Confederate host. The two vast armies are, therefore, 
twenty miles apart. Their pickets come to the banks of 
the stream, and sometimes joke across it, and pass papers 
and tobacco to each other. 

General Lee has for several months been anticipating 
another attempt to cut a way to Richmond, whose Libby 
Prison — worse than death to our captive heroes — had 
awakened the strongest indignation at the North. 

May 3d, 1864, the order is issued by General Grant 
to march. The myriad tents disappear in the night like 
frostwork before the sun ; the knapsacks are packed, the 
rations secured, and the arms seized. Horses stand by 
thousands in the darkness, prancing for the fray, or har- 
nessed to the heavy wagons. 

The next day dawns upon a sadly magnificent array. 
Freedom's battalions, two hundred thousand strong, cover- 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



301 



ing miles of scarred and desolate ground, are pressing for- 
ward to the bugle's blast, into the bloodiest contest of the 
war. 

General Grant's military capacity and strategy appear 
in this greatest campaign of the age. It extends over a 
vast field of movements, from Mobile, which he intends 
General Banks to look after, to Richmond, including 
Sigel's and Sherman's expeditions. Failure anywhere 
must affect, more or less, the success of the whole. Trust- 
ing his generals and Providence in the stupendous plan, 
the time for action has come. 

He does not hurl his battalions against those of Lee, 
protected by the strongest intrenchments, but moves 
round to the eastward. His plan is, to get past the right 
wing, and between the enemy and Richmond. Then, Lee 
must come out of his war den, and try to stop his adver- 
sary, or fall back on his capital. 

Right across General Grant's path lies the " Wilder- 
ness." This is a tract of land a dozen miles or more long, 
and about five in width, in Spottsylvania County, Va. It 
runs nearly along the bank of the Rapidan. Oh, what a 
place for an advancing army ! See the tangled scrub-oak 
bushes, deep, ragged gullies, ravines with steep sides, and, 
scattered on every hand, patches of swamp. No roads 
invite the steps of the martial host. A few narrow paths, • 
called roads, cross the sterile woods ; and an occasional 
clearing, with a tavern and a few rough habitations, re- 
lieve the desolation. On the skirt of this forest is Chan- 
cellorsville. where Hooker fought his disastrous battle. 



302 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



May. 4th, the Union columns cross the Rapidan with 
pontoon bridges. The youthful Warren leads the Fifth 
Corps, the lion-hearted Sedgwick the Sixth — both cross- 
ing at the Germania Ford. The Second Corps, under the 
gallant, splendid Hancock, makes the passage at Ely's 
Ford ; the Ninth, under the noble Burnside, remaining as 
reserve on the north bank of the river. Wednesday 
night the troops sleep on the quiet shore toward the foe. 

May 5th pours its light over the uprisen, marshalled 
ranks of the Union. Forward into the " Wilderness " 
they are led by their bravely confident chief. 

May 5th, just as they are turning to sweep along and 
around the enemy's lines, aids from General Sheridan's 
horsemen, who had been pushing southeastward, come 
back with despatches. General Meade, a tall, thin man, a 
little stooping in the shoulders, breaks the seal, and reads. 
The next moment he turns to General Grant, remarking : 

" They say that Lee intends to fight us here." 

" Very well," coolly replies General Grant. 

Then they step aside, and talk. The Lieutenant-Gen* 
eral smokes, and whittles in musing mood while he con* 
verses. He now changes the direction of the cutting from 
him, and with quicker motion. He has matured his plan. 
Action will swiftly follow. 

Like the collision of rushing engines will be the shock. 
Lee is determined to crush through, and break the equally 
resolute ranks of our unshrinking u boys." Again and 
again Ewell's and Hills's corps dash upon the columns of 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



303 



"Warren and Hancock, concentrating on the centre, which 
is now the weakest point. 

You know, to cut the army in two, anywhere, makes 
sad work — often ending in shameful defeat. 

The sun sets in smoke, and its beams are reflected 
from pools of blood. The battle thunders on ! The dark- 
ness creeps over the forest plain of death, and still, like 
angiy phantoms, the warriors move to and fro. Hancock 
seems inspired with the awful enthusiasm of unearthly 
power, and mows down the foe, while his own ranks sink 
before the scythe of the destroying angel. 

After a brief respite, on Friday, the 6th, Longstreet, 
haying come to the aid of Lee, the same desperate game 
to break our lines is tried with renewed energy. Back 
and forth in the dense thickets, among ravines and in 
swamps, the swaying masses of armed men rush, shout, 
and fight. Many, alas ! fall, to rise no more. 

As night comes down, away upon the extreme right 
swing with terrible force the columns of the enemy. Like 
chaff before the tempest are hurried Seymour's and Sha- 
ler's brigades, and the generals taken prisoners. A little 
farther success, and the wedge is fairly driven through, 
cutting off the army from its supplies on the other side of 
the river, with which they were connected. It is well for 
us the darkness wraps the scene, and hides the greatness ' 
of the disaster to us from our foe. 

Lee retires. Even General Grant — who, as one that 
fought then said to me, " wouldn't know when he was 



304 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



whipped "—breathed more freely. When told, you recol- 
lect, that our lines were giving way, and the men flying, 
he calmly replied, " I don't believe it ! " This confidence 
in his cause and his men has ever been a source of great 
strength, reassuring his troops, if apparently overborne for 
a moment. 

The third sanguinary day has closed, and no eye can 
see the end of the fearful struggle — whether to the Re- 
public it shall be victory or defeat. So far it resembles, 
more than any part of the civil war, the fighting of the 
Indian tribes which once roamed unmolested there ; madly 
closing in the combat, here and there, sending the missiles 
of death from thicket and behind trees, and piling the 
dead in every possible shape, sometimes in rows like the 
cradled grain. 

I know a young soldier, who, in the darkness, was 
seized by a stout rebel, and his gun taken. He was a 
prisoner, and already seemed to see Libby Prison, when a 
shell came between him and his captor, laying him on the 
ground, while the " Union boy " made quick step toward 
our troops. 

Saturday, the 9th, has dawned, and again there is the 
rattle of musketry and the roar of artillery from our 
troops. But no reply is made by the foe. He was fall- 
ing back deliberately, ready to pause and grapple again 
with Grant whenever necessary. 

On, the long lines of hostile troops, with. all the dread 
machinery of war, move toward Spottsylvauia Court 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



305 



House, both anxious to secure the position. The Confed- 
erate troops first reach it, and make a stand, protected by 
fortifications. 

The Sabbath brings only a partial cessation of the con- 
flict. Over the vast field, at intervals, is the deadly meet- 
ing of the combatants. There are tents of prayer, and 
Christian words are spoken to listening ears. Men are 
thoughtful out of the bloody strife, at such a time of con- 
stant peril. 

Monday finds the rations low. The caravan of supply 
wagons arrives at the moment of need. The hours fly, 
and an onset is made upon divisions of our forces, with no 
result besides death. Look off to that conspicuous spot in 
the line of conflict. There, among the artillery of his 
corps, stands the cool, intrepid, accomplished Sedgwick. 
He is directing the gun mounting. The bullets of the 
sharpshooters whistle around him. The- artillerymen in- 
voluntarily dodge. General Sedgwick smiles, and says : 
u Don't duck, men. They couldn't hit an elephant that 
distance." The words scarcely escape his lips, before a 
well-directed ball pierces his head. He falls into the arms 
of his adjutant : the bloody foam wreathes those lips ; a 
smile follows, and all is over. One of the bravest and 
noblest of the army, after three years of successful ser- 
vice, has yielded up his manly life. 

Now, with advancing night, several divisions of 
Grant's troops cross the branches of the Mattapony, and 
the struggle is renewed. Every step of progress is stained 
20 



306 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



with, blood. Like a half moon, see the white tents and 
the battle array of the rebel ranks around Spottsylvania 
Court House. Over against them, with broader curve, 
lies the Union army. Both are waiting, and preparing, 
too, for another general clash of arms. 

Tuesday opens a terrific contest. The contending 
columns meet, and shout in the delirium of wildest war. 
Men and horses go down in ridges. The wounded are 
borne on every side from their ghastly bed. 

General Grant sends his first despatch to Washington. 
It reveals at once his consciousness of fatal havoc, and yet 
unyielding courage and hope : 

" We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy 
fighting. The result, to this time, is very much in our 
favor. Our losses have been heavy, as well as those of 
the enemy. I think the loss of the enemy must be 
greater. We have taken over five thousand prisoners in 
battle, while he has taken from us but few stragglers. 
/ propose to fight it out on this line, if it hikes all 
summer" 

Among the killed was the Christian hero, Brigadier- 
General Eice. He sent to his wife, before he fell, the 
patriotic words, " I have been true to my country." And, 
after the fatal wound was received, he desired to have his 
face turned to the enemy while life ebbed away. But 
what is better, when asked, by a delegate of the Christian 
Commission, how Christ, the Captain of our salvation, 
appeared then — " Oh, Jesus is very near ! " 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



307 



Such, are the battle scenes of this tremendous war. 

The next message of General Grant, dated the 12th, 
was as follows : 

" The eighth day of battle closes, leaving between 
three and four thousand prisoners in our hands for the 
day's work, including two general officers, and over thirty 
pieces of artillery. The enemy are obstinate, and seem to 
hare found the last ditch. TTe have lost no organization, 
not even a company, while we have destroyed and cap- 
tured one division, one brigade, and one regiment entire 
of the enemy." 

A storm now sets in. The rain drenches the wound- 
ed, and compels a respite to the sanguinary and protracted 
contest. Richmond is yet fifty miles distant. 

The awful loss of troops, and the strength of Lee'3 
army, leaves but small prospect of getting to Richmond 
on this side. General Grant, with a comprehensive and 
daring strategy, is determined to swing his whole army 
around on the south side of the capital, and make James 
River the base of supplies. In that part of the grand 
field of operations, there had been bold movements. Gen- 
eral Butler had sent an expedition up York River to "West 
Point, to make the enemy believe he was going across the 
peninsula to Richmond. The map will make this plain. 
Butler, however, dropped down again, and up James 
River, landing at City Point, fifteen miles from Richmond. 
His object was, to cut the railroads, and prevent Beaure- 
gard from helping Lee, and take Fort Darling also, But 



308 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the enemy came out of the fort, and beat him back again 
to his intrenchments. 

General Sheridan, meanwhile, with the cavalry, had 
swept around the right flank of the enemy, and, crossing 
the North Anna River, went into the outer defences of 
Richmond, destroying railways, kc. General Sigel, in 
Western Virginia, had been defeated. The able and gal- 
lant Sherman was advancing from Chattanooga against 
General Joe Johnston, toward Atlanta. 

At daybreak on Thursday, the Second Corps are 
moving, not, indeed, in the grand flanking curves from 
point to point around the enemy, but with fixed bayonets 
down upon his works. Still and resolute, through the 
forest they go, over ravines. Now, nearing the rebel lines, 
with a wild, shout and run, they are upon the foe. In five 
minutes, Major-General Johnson, Brigadier-General Stew- 
art, and three thousand prisoners are captured, with 
eighteen cannon and twenty-two standards. All day the 
swaying lines fill the heavens with the rattle of musketry. 
Lee at length is compelled to fall back again toward Rich- 
mond. General Grant hurries after to the North Anna 
River. Combats follow. 

Sunday comes once more, and the cavalry ride upon 
each other's front with desperate heroism. The sacred 
hours pass over the wild and terrific conflict. At Coal 
Harbor is a deadly meeting by our Sixth and Eighteenth 
Corps, with Longstreet and Breckinridge. 

Several of the army surgeons were afraid to come to 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



309 



the field of duty to the wounded. General Grant heard 
of it. To use the words of a wounded soldier, who 
admires the Chief: 

" Old Grant sent word, that, if they did not report at 
once, he would have them arrested. And they were on 
hand in a hurry, I tell you." 

The army is now on the Chickahominy, ten miles 
from Richmond. General Grant sees that his only hope- 
ful movement is the daring push across to the James 
River, on the south of Richmond. 

Some of the greatest work of war is the least noisy. 
The grandest results in nature and in life are secured 
in silence. General Grant's safe removal, almost in 
the enemy's face, of his vast army, across rivers, and an 
enemy's country, to James River, was one of these rare 
and splendid achievements. It astonished General Lee, 
and came near costing him the great stronghold Iving 
between the new base and Richmond. But reinforce- 
ments reaching the city, our troops were forced to yield in 
the struggle for the prize. 

A gentleman of high editorial position called on Mrs. 
Grant, when she was in Xew York — " a plain, sensible, 
quiet woman, who takes the world as a matter of course." 
He alluded to the high position of her husband, and ap- 
pealed to her ambition to see how much vanity lurked 
under the unassuming surface. Site listened ; then, *with 
no perceptible change in manner, replied : 

Mr. Grant " (so she always calls him) " had sue- 



310 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



ceeded below, and, when lie was called to this position, he 
thought it was his duty to try what he could do." 

" We then expressed a hope that he would succeed, 
and that he would take Richmond. 

" 1 Well, I don't know. I think he may. Mr. Grant 
always was a very obstinate man.' " 

It is further said that the following conversation oc- 
curred : 

" If General Grant succeeds, he may want to be 
President." 

" But he is Lieutenant-General." 

" Yes : but when a man can be elected President, it 
must be a strong temptation." 

u I don't know. There have never been but two lieu- 
tenant-generals of the United States — General Washing- 
ton and General Scott. There have been a number of 
Presidents ; for instance, such men as Frank Pierce and 
James Buchanan ! " 

No 3 it would hardly be ambition which would lead a 
lieutenant-general to wish to be President. 

Truly, " Mrs. Grant, you are a sensible woman, and 
Mr. Grant is an ' obstinate man.' " 

Here is a touching story about a soldier boy found on 
the Virginia battle field : 

" He lay severely wounded. He had fallen the day be- 
fore, and had remained unmolested within the rebel lines. 
They had not removed him, and he was almost alone with 
the dead when I rode up. The poor fellow was crawling 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



311 



about gathering violets. Faint with the loss of blood, 
unable to stand, he could not resist the tempting flow- 
ers, and had already made a beautiful bouquet. Having 
caused a stretcher to be sent for, I saw him taken up ten- 
derly and borne away, wearing a brave, sweet, touching 
smile." 

Brave boy ! Lover of nature, too. Between the 
hours of musing over visions of home, he plucked the mod- 
est, fragrant blossoms from the hostile soil stained with his 
own blood, and made a bouquet ; such an one, perhaps, as 
a sister, whose eye of love is blue as the violet, or the sky 
above his bed of earth, had arranged for him in the yard 
or garden which was pressed by his tender feet. 

An incident related of General Grant, while besieging 
Richmond, is certainly characteristic. He was walking 
around the docks at City Point, when he stopped to see 
some negroes roll a barrel of bacon on board of a boat. 
The negroes were unable to move it, when a crusty lieu- 
tenant,- who stood near, dressed in his fine blue . clothes, 
shouted : " You niggers, push harder, or go get anether 
man to help you ! " Without saying a word, General 
Grant pulled up his sleeves, and helped the negroes roll 
the barrel on the boat ; then he drew his silk handker- 
chief from his pocket, and wiped his hands, and moved 
quickly away. You may imagine how that second lieu- 
tenant felt, when he was told that the stevedore was no 
less than the Commander-in-Chief of the United States 
armies. The General was dressed in coarse homespun, 



312 



LIFE OF GENEEAL GRANT. 



with his hat drawn over his eyes, and one of the most 
unpretending-looking personages one could imagine. 

As if to cheer us in the quiet of our armies at home, 
June 14th, 1864, occurred a naval engagement, which 
sent a thrill of wild exultation over the land. The famous 
and victorious pirate " Alabama," which had been ordered 
"by the French Government to leave the port of Cher- 
bourg, met the United States steamer " Kearsarge," about 
seven miles from the harbor. The noble vessel was 
named after a lordly summit among the White Hills — one 
of the hody guards of Mount Washington. It is pro- 
nounced there as if it were spelled Keer-sarge. 

The combat was terrible. Balls and shell flew until 
the thunder of the ordnance shook the ships, and the 
smoke of the conflict hung darkly- o^er the sea. 

After an hour of lightning and hail from ship toward 
ship, the dark, bloody leviathan of treason began to reel 
before the blows of the " Kearsarge." 

A few moments later, and the waters closed over the 
pipes from which the breath of the monster's fiery heart 
had escaped. 

The captain — the guilty Semmes — and his crew were 
saved from a watery grave by the English yacht " Deer- 
hound," commanded by Captain Lancaster. Another evi- 
dence of English sympathy with the rebels, which has 
been mainly felt by the aristocratic classes there, and else- 
where in Europe. 

Week after week passes with no important change in 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



313 



the aspect of the impending struggle. A rebel view of 
this suspense will interest you. The Const itutionalist ) of 
Augusta, Ga.', frankly writes of General Grant's strong 
position, in an amusing way. It is an estimate of Gen- 
eral Grant and prophecy of the result of his siege : 

" The second danger is of the siege of Richmond. 
Some of our cotemporaries, and the most of our corre- 
spondents, laugh at this ; and yet Grant has it in his 
power to besiege the capital, or i force an attack on him- 
self, or force an evacuation of Richmond. Not that he 
has his choice of these three things, but can force that 
choice upon us. In Grant's moving upon the south of 
Richmond, and threatening James River near the city, 
General Lee has choice of two evils. If he keeps ahead 
of Grant, and holds the Petersburg line inviolate, that 
flanker necessarily gets between him and Richmond, and 
walks into the city at his leisure. If Lee keeps between 
Richmond and Grant, the latter, of course, gets between 
him and the Southern States' communication, and cuts off 
the only source of supplies now left, as the valley of Vir- 
ginia is in the hands of the enemy. If Lee wants to 
save Petersburg and Richmond both, he will have to 
attack Grant in one of his craw-fish movements, and will 
have to attack the position and intrenchments which the 
grand spade-and-pick army never exists an hour without. 

" In our judgment, the plan of the campaign is at last 
developed. "Western Virginia, the valley and its re- 
sources, is, by the movement on Staunton and Lexington, 



314 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



to be rendered unavailable for provisions. Grant is to 
throw his army into fortifications across the railroads from 
Eichmond south, and so cut off our army supplies. Thus 
the starvation of a siege will be as effectually secured, as 
if an army could be found large enough to surround the 
legions of Lee, as Grant did General Pemberton ; provided, 
of course, that the Danville Road shares the fate that the 
"Weldon Road probably will. If General Lee chooses to 
stop the game by a fight, he has to put his ringer on the 
slippery Grant, and stop his flea-like flankings ; and, hav- 
ing found him and stopped him for a fight, will have to 
charge the hills Grant will occupy and the trenches Grant 
will dig. We lose Richmond if we hold the Weldon 
and Danville Railroads ; we lose the railroads if we save 
Richmond ; or we attack Grant in his mighty trenches if 
we try to save both. It is true that General Beauregard 
could still keep south of Grant, and prevent raids into 
South Carolina, but could not keep him from stopping the 
roads south, unless he has enough men to attack Grant in 
reverse, and place him between two fires. We hope 
Grant thinks he has. This is a game with no possible 
hindrance, perfectly plain to even such unmilitary compre- 
hension as our own, and we respectfully submit that there 
is no fun in it." 

To General Lee it was plain enough that something 
must be done to frighten, and, if possible, weaken Gen- 
eral Grant. 

A force of twenty thousand, or more, was sent toward 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



315 



Washington to threaten it. General Grant informed the 
"War Department, it is affirmed, that troops had gone into 
the Shenandoah Valley, under General Early. Whether 
this be true or not, we were unprepared for the raid. 
Onward the rebels swept toward Maryland, burning and 
pillaging as they went. This was early in July, 

On the 3d, the President issued a call for three 
months* troops to repel invasion. 

On the 8th, the rebels attacked Hagerstown, Md., and 
sacked the city. 

On Saturday, the 9th, a battle took place between the 
forces under General Wallace and the rebels at Monocacy, 
commencing at nine o'clock in the morning, and continuing 
until five in the afternoon, when, overpowered by the 
superior numbers of the enemy, our forces were obliged to 
retreat in disorder, with severe loss. The fighting on 
both sides was desperate, much of it being hand to hand 
in an open field. The enemy advanced in three lines of 
battle, covered by their batteries, but were for hours kept 
at bay by our artillery. Our loss was probably one thou- 
sand in killed, wounded, and missing. General Tyler was 
captured, and several officers were killed. No guns or 
flags were lost. The strength of the enemy was some 
| fifteen thousand, while that of General Wallace was only 
five thousand. 

The intelligence of General Wallace's defeat occa- 
sioned the greatest excitement in Baltimore. The bells 
were rung, the citizens mustered for service in the de- 



316 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



fences, and every possible precaution taken for the protec- 
tion of the city. At midnight on Saturday, Governor 
Bradford and Mayor Chadman issued a proclamation, de- 
claring the city to be in imminent danger, and calling on 
every loyal citizen to prepare at once to avert the peril. 
During the whole of Sunday the city was under arms, and 
the work of erecting additional defences went vigorously 
forward. At one time a report reached the city that the 
rebels were but seven miles distant ; but later accounts do 
not seem to confirm the statement. A proclamation was 
also issued on Sunday by Governor Curt in, of Pennsyl- 
vania, appealing to the people to come forward for the 
defence of their State. 

On Sunday morning, a force of four or five hundred 
rebel cavalry dashed into Rockville, Md., sixteen miles 
from Washington, and, after plundering the stores and 
stealing all the cattle and horses they could find, left in the 
direction of Frederick ; but, before they left, they sent to 
the Virginia side all their plunder. Persons who came 
from the upper fords reported that the rebels were con- 
veying large numbers of cattle, horses, hogs, and sheep, 
stolen from the farmers along the river, across into Vir- 
ginia, and that every ford was held by small rebel cavalry 
forces and sections of batteries. They carried off several 
thousand head of cattle, and from eight hundred to one 
thousand valuable horses. 

The Northern Central Railroad — running from Balti- 
more to Harrisburg — was cut near Cockeysville, twelve 
miles north of Baltimore. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



317 



On Monday the rebels made rapid progress toward 
Baltimore and Washington, being within seven miles of 
the former city, and six miles of the capital. They cut 
the telegraph communication between Philadelphia and 
Washington, at Magnolia station, where they intercepted 
a large number of despatches, among them one from 
Secretary Stanton to General Cadwallader. Here they 
captured a passenger train from Baltimore, and robbed the 
conductor and passengers. General Franklin and another 
general, name not known, were taken prisoners, together 
with ail the soldiers in the train. The station was then 
burned down. 

The telegraph wires that cross the Susquehanna Biver 
at Port Deposit, Md., were also cut. Communication 
between Harrisburg and "Washington was destroyed. It 
is understood that at least eight bridges were destroyed on 
the Northern Central Bailroad, between Moncton and 
Cockeysville. 

The enemy, on their approach to Baltimore, burned 
the residence of Governor Bradford, three miles from 
Baltimore, completely to the ground, stating that they had 
orders to do so from General Bradley Johnson, in retalia- 
tion for the destruction of Governor Letcher's house in 
Yirgina by General Hunter. 

Telegraphic communication between Washington and ' 
Baltimore was cut, leaving the States north in awful sus- 
pense respecting the result of the bold invasion. 
- On the evening of July 12th, a charge was made upon 



318 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



the enemy in front of Fort Stevens, and our line was 
advanced beyond the house of F. P. Blair, Sr., thus driv- 
ing the rebels from their position. In this charge we had 
three hundred killed and wounded, and the rebel loss 
exceeded ours. 

The arrival of (General Burnside's) veteran troops at 
the capital was timely ; and the enemy retired across the 
Potomac during the ni^ht. 

The only success of their invasion of Maryland was 
the acquisition of supplies of all kinds, which they took 
off in large quantities. "While in the possession of Fred- 
erick, the rebels levied a fine of two hundred thousand 
dollars, which was paid to save the city from destruction. 
They swept the surrounding country of horses, cattle, 
sheep, and hogs, driving large herds toward the Po- 
tomac. 

General Grant held on to his position, " unterrified 
and unseduced " from his grapple with the foe. The 
President remarked, one day, during the attack upon Fort 
Stevens, to a friend who was somewhat alarmed at the 
tardiness of General Grant in forwarding troops to the 
capital : 

" General Grant has as much at stake as any man in 
the country in the management of the campaign. He 
knows very well, if the rebels should capture Wash- 
ington, that not even the fall of Richmond would compen- 
sate for the national calamity and disgrace. He would 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



319 



lose his reputation as a general. He knows it ; and I 
shall trust him." 

You will be amused with the manner in which Gen 
eral Franklin, who was captured in the cars near Balti- 
more, escaped. He was taken to a rebel encampment, 
and put in charge of guards. He lav down, tired with 
the hard and rapid travel, and feigned sleep. He listened, 
and took a peep, now and then, to see if they slept. 

One after another, supposing he was in deep slumber, 
they gave themselves up to repose. 

General Franklin then stole cautiously away, making 
noise enough to be sure the guards were not deceiving 
hivi, till he was over a fence not far off ; then, he assures 
us — and we may believe him — he ran for his life and lib- 
erty. In the daytime he hid in the bushes, and could hear 
the enemy near. 

At length hunger and fatigue compelled him to show 
himself. Soon he saw a man in the woods carrying hay. 
He walked up boldly, and asked him what he was doing 
with that hay. 

" Oh. I am trying to conceal it from the rebs, who are 
leaving nothing they can take awav." 

This answer gave him hope. Making himself known, 
he was cared for by the Union farmer, and escorted into 
Baltimore. 

July 26th, General Grant made another movement of 
his army, which displayed the strategy of the great 
flanker. A part of his host were ordered to the north of 



320 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



James River ; pressing thus upon the enemy gradually, 
but surely, with his anaconda-like coil. 

The next day, a line of outer intrench ments, and four 
cannon, were captured. 

The 29th was a dark day for Chambersburg, Pa. A 
cavalry raid of the rebels laid the beautiful town in ruins. 
Many of the people who, just before, were in the midst 
of plenty, had not left a meal or a change, of apparel. 

July 30th, early in the morning, there was an unusual 
stir at the headquarters of General Burnside. Unknown 
to all excepting the engineers and a few officers, General 
Grant had been successfully mining one of the enemy's 
main batteries. It was in General Burnside's front. At 
half past three, the fuse was fired. But it burned slowly 
in the long, damp entrance. Soon after four o'clock a 
loud report startled the enemy. Another moment, and 
the air was filled with earth and timbers, and men. Suc- 
cessive shocks, like those of an earthquake, shook the 
land. Then opened a terrific cannonading. A hundred 
guns thundered along the lines, and toward the breach, 
forty rods in width, rushed our heroic " boys." The 
Ninth Army Corps made the charge. 

You will notice that, wherever the fault of a failure to 
capture the strongly fortified place may be laid by differ- 
ent writers, it is evident, from their losses in that breach of 
death, the " slaughter pen " it became, the negroes were no 
cowards. 

At five and a half o'clock the charge was made, and 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



321 



the fort, with part of the line each side, was carried in the 
most brilliant style. 

The Second Division, which was in the centre, ad- 
vanced and carried the second line, a short distance be- 
yond the fort, and there rested, holding their ground with 
the utmost determination. 

It was at this time the colored division, under com- 
mand of Brigadier-General White, was pushed forward 
and ordered to charge and carry the crest of the hill, 
which would have decided the contest. 

The troops advanced in good order as far as the first 
line, when they received a galling fire which checked 
them ; and, although quite a number kept on advancing, 1 
the greater portion seemed to become utterly demoralized, 
part of them taking refuge in the fort> and the balance 
running to the rear as fast as possible. 

They were rallied and again pushed forward, but with- 
out success, the greater part of their officers being killed 
or wounded. 

During this time they seemed to be without any one 
to manage them, and finally they fell back to the rear, out 
of the range of the volleys of canister and musketry that 
were plowing through their ranks. 

Their losses are very heavy, particularly in officers, as 
will be seen by the following figures : 

Twenty-third U. S. Colored. — Fifteen officers killed 
and wounded ; four hundred men, including the missing. 

Twenty-eighth U. S. Colored. — Eleven officers, and 
21 



322 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



about one hundred and fifty men killed, wounded, and 
missing. 

Twenty-seventh U. S. Colored. — Six officers and 
about one hundred and fifty men killed, wounded, and 
missing. 

Twenty-ninth U. S. Colored. — Eight officers, and 
about two hundred and seventy-five men killed, wounded, 
and missing. 

Thirty-first U. S. Colored. — Seven officers, and 
about two hundred men killed, wounded, and missing. 

Forty-third U. S. Colored. — Six officers, and a 
large number of men killed, wounded, and missing. 

Thirty-ninth U. S. Colored. — Several officers, and 
about two hundred and fifty men killed, wounded, and 
missing. 

The loss in the Second Division of the Ninth Corps, 
General Ledlie commanding, was very severe, and is esti- 
mated at from one thousand to twelve hundred, while 
many make the figure larger. 

Among the missing, was the name of General Bartlett. 
He succeeded in reaching the fort with his command, but, 
having accidentally broken his cork leg, he was unable to 
get off the field. He, however, held possession of the 
ground for several hours, and on]y surrendered when all 
hope of escape was gone. Some two hundred men, both 
black and white, were with him at the time, a few of 
whom managed to get back to our lines amid a storm of 
bullets. 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



323 



The high hope of a great victory which was kindled 
with the first telegram that flew over the North, was 
quenched by the next tidings of a repulse. 

The rebels had, to some extent, prepared for such an 
attack. From their works they were, able to pour an en- 
filading fire upon our troops, before which they could not 
stand. 

The golden opportunity that followed the terror of the 
explosion which laid open the works to our army, was lost. 
Why, is not yet known. But no one suspects General 
Grant of any blame in this great failure, which prolonged 
the dreadful war. 

Oh, my reader, what a sad sight, after the fruitless 
slaughter, was presented ! Wrote one who was there : 

" After the battle of Saturday, General Burnside sent 
a flag of truce to the enemy with a view to recovering the 
wounded and burying the dead lying between the lines, 
and whom it had been impossible to approach owing to 
the continued firing. After some little signalling, the 
rebels acknowledged and came forward to meet it. The 
communication was received and forwarded by them to the 
authority with whom the power rests. Our officers sought 
permission to succor the wounded while waiting, and it 
was granted. Accordingly, the poor fellows, who had 
been lying on the ground nearly twenty -four hours — a por- 
tion of the time in the blazing sun — were given each, a 
drink of brandy and water. The crater of the mined fort 
was plainly in view ; but the rebels refused to allow any 



324 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



approach to it, and the -wounded near it were supplied by 
the rebels themselves. The agonies of the wounded were 
awful. Unable to move, not daring to make even a sig- 
nal, lest it would attract an unfriendly bullet, they had lain 
twenty-four hours without food or water. The two past 
days had been the warmest, as yet, of this summer, and 
they w r ere subjected to the merciless rays of a scorching 
sun. The dead presented a sickening sight. There were 
both white men and negroes ; but now it is difficult to 
distinguish them apart. Their bodies were swollen and 
bloated, and their faces blackened by the sun. 

" Although the rebels refused a flag of truce on Sun- 
day, to enable us to bury the dead and remove the 
wounded, from five to nine o'clock on Monday was 
granted for this purpose. Very few were found alive — 
not more than a dozen ; and but a few of these are ex- 
pected to recover. The ground in front of the crater was 
thickly covered with the dead bodies, the colored soldiers 
being in the proportion of four to one of the white, the 
colored troops having experienced the heaviest fire at this 
place. The work of burying the dead was finished about 
half past ten, and firing was commenced by the rebels ten 
minutes afterward." 

And yet the " boys " uncomplainingly bore it all. 

The well men had often hard fare, but were even 
cheerful and happy. Hear what another says : 

" One afternoon, about five o'clock, I found myself 
seated beside an artilleryman belonging, I believe, to a 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



325 



battery from Rhode Island, who had a long and weari- 
some march from the front, on one of the hottest of hot 
days, and afterward had been obliged, with his compan- 
ions, to strain every mnscle to get the gnns, caissons, 
horses, &c., on board the boat in the shortest possible 
period. The time had come to eat his dinner, which was 
his supper as well — hard tack, cold coffee, raw pork. 
Without a single word of complaint, he soaked his hard 
tack in the coffee, drank up the coffee to the last drop, and 
picked his pork clean to the rind. 1 There,' said he, as he 
finished a meal more frugal than Cato's, and wiped and 
shut up his knife, ' I have often sat down to a fuller meal 
with a less appetite, and enjoyed a good supper far less 
than I have done this ! ' Fortunately, it was in my power 
to add something to his pork and hard tack. But oh, 
what a lesson to the lazy, luxurious, discontented grum- 
blers at home ! If they cannot feel the moral of such a 
story, they are beyond hope." 

A week later, General Lee tried the underground 
work, to see what he could accomplish. General Grant 
was too wide awake for the wary chieftain. He had sunk 
a shaft, which our men thought was a well for General 
"Warren's corps, which went right into one of the enemy's 
passages. 

This discovery, with a poor engineering which failed • 
to estimate rightly the distance, spoiled the affair. 

The cannon suddenly opened — the dust and smoke rose 
outside of our works, and that was all ! 



328 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



On the 4th day of August, the following noble order 
was read to the army : 

Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, August 3, 1864. 
To-morrow, the 4th Lost., having been set apart by the President 
of the United States as a day of National fasting, humiliation, and 
prayer, the Major-General Commanding calls upon his fellow soldiers 
to observe the day with the solemnities due to the occasion ; and he 
recommends that, wherever practicable, religious services be held in 
the several camps by the chaplains serving with the army ; and he 
commands that all operations that are not matters of military neces- 
sity, be suspended during the day. 

By command of llajor-General Meade. 

The very next day, Admiral Farragut, or " Old Sala- 
mander," entered Mobile Bay. in triumph, having con- 
quered the rebel fleet and silenced the forts at its entrance, 
after a brilliant engagement. 

The 18th brought a decisive change in the movements 
of the Potomac Army. General Grant threw his troops 
across the TVeldon Railroad — a very important path of 
supplies toward the South. The enemy fought hard to 
dislodge our brave fellows, but General Warren beat him 
back in gallant style. 

The chivalrous Hancock, the incarnation of heroism, 
who was helping destroy the railroad, on the 25th had a 
terrible battle ; but — as he always does — held his ground, 
and slaughtered the rebels. 

During these scenes on the Potomac, the equally brave 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



327 



and brilliant Sherman was moving upon and around 
Atlanta, Ga., another stronghold and very important cen- 
tre of their army munitions and supplies. 

A copy of the record on a sword presented General 
Grant by the citizens of Jo Daviess County, 111., gives a 
" bird's-eye " view of his military career : 

Palo Alto, May 8th, 1846. 
Resaca de la Pahna, May 9th, 1846. 
Monterey, September 19th, 20th, 21st, 1846. 
Vera Cruz, April 18th, 1847. 
Molino del Key, September 8th, 1847. 
City of Mexico, September 14th, 1847. 
Belmont, November 7th, 1861. 
Fort Henry, February 6th and 7th, 1862. 
Fort Donelson, February 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th, 
1862. 

Shiloh, April 6th and 7th, 1862. 

Corinth siege, April 22d to May 20th, 1862. 

Iuka, September 19th, 1862. 

Hatchie, October 5th, 1862. 

Tallahatchie, December 1st, 1862. 

Port Gibson, Mav 12th, 1863. 

Black River Bridge, May 7th, 1863. 

Champion Hill, May 14th, 1863. 

Black River, May 17th, 1863. 

Vicksburg, July 4th, 1863. 

Chattanooga, November 23d, 24th, 25th, and 26th, 
1863. 



328 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



Battles for Richmond, May 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 
10th, 11th, and 12th, 1864. 

General Grant has in one respect been only the boy 
grown ; that is, in his unpretending, uniform, taciturn, yet 
pleasant bearing. He can converse finely, but is reserved. 
Seldom laughing or weeping, his aspect is not repulsive, 
but quite otherwise, wearing ever an expression of a smile 
ready to spread over his plain, marked features. He uses 
no " vain repetitions," content to say a thing once dis- 
tinctly. 

Brave, true in his motives, speech, and policy, firm 
and resolute in action, possessing great fortitude, he fears 
no emergency necessary to success, calmly relying upon 
Providence for results beyond his control ; the crowning 
glory of character in his splendid career, is the absence, in 
a word or act, of a selfish ambition — that " mountain 
devil," in the language of Willis, which has' often made 
the gifted general a trifler with life and liberty. 

The brave and able General McPherson, killed near 
Atlanta, Ga., in General Sherman's army, and who 
knew well both him and the Lieutenant-General, just 
before his death used the following language to a friend. 
It is just, and especially interesting because from the 
gifted and departed McPherson : 

" Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant I regard as one of 
the most remarkable men of our country. "Without 
aspiring to be a genius, or possessing those characteristics 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



329 



which impress one forcibly at first sight, his sterling good 
sense, calm judgment, and persistency of purpose, more 
than compensate for those dashing, brilliant qualities which 
are apt to captivate at a first glance. To know and appre- 
ciate General Grant fully, one ought to be a member of 
his military family. 

" Though possessing a remarkable reticence as far as 
military operations are concerned, he is frank and affable, 
converses well, and has a peculiarly retentive memory. 
When not oppressed with the cares of his position, he is 
very fond of talking, telling anecdotes, &c. 

" His purity of character is unimpeachable, and his 
patriotism of the most exalted kind. He is generous to a 
fault, humane and true, and a steadfast friend to those 
whom he deems worthy of his confidence, and can always 
be relied upon in case of emergency. 

" Major-General W. T. Sherman is what might be 
called a brilliant man, possessing a broad and comprehen- 
sive intellect. A rapid thinker and ready writer, fertile in 
his resources and untiring in his exertions, he possesses 
those characteristics which forcibly impress you at first 
sight. He has mingled largely with the world, and has 
tried various professions ; has read and reflected much, 
and, having a remarkably retentive memory, is well in- 
formed on most subjects which come within the scope of 
human thought. He is of a much more excitable tem- 
perament than General Grant, and more apt to be swayed 
by impulses, though his judgment is not so cool and reli- 



330 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



able. In other words, though a more brilliant man, he 
does not possess that sterling good, common sense which 
preeminently distinguishes General Grant. 

" He is, however, a most brave and generous man, 
thoroughly in earnest, and ready to sacrifice everything 
for the good of his country. He is a true friend, and 
thoroughly unselfish ; and there are no better men — or 
few, at least — than General Sherman." 

How touchmgly beautiful, in connection with this high 
testimony, is the correspondence which follows : 

" Clyde, Ohio, August 3, 1864. 

" To General Grant : 

" Dear Sir : I hope you will pardon me for troubling 
you with the perusal of these few lines from the trembling 
hand of the aged grandma of our beloved General James 
B. McPherson, who fell in battle. "When it was an- 
nounced at his funeral,* from the public print, that when 
General Grant heard of his death, he went into his tent 
and wept like a child, my heart went out in thanks to you 
for the interest you manifested in him while he was with 
you. I have watched his progress from infancy up. In 
childhood he was obedient and kind ; in manhood, inter- 
esting, noble, and persevering, looking to the wants of 
others. Since he entered the war, others can appreciate 
his worth more than I can. When it was announced to 
us by telegraph that our loved one had fallen, our hearts 



v LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 331 

were almost rent asunder ; but when we heard the Com- 
mander-in-Chief could weep with us too, we felt, sir, that 
you have been as a father to him, and this whole nation is 
mourning his early death. I wish to inform you that his 
remains were conducted by a kind guard to the very par- 
lor where he spent a cheerful evening in 1861 with his 
widowed mother, two brothers, an only sister, and his aged 
grandmother, who is now trying to write. In the morn- 
ing he took his leave at six o'clock, little dreaming he 
should fall by a ball from the enemy. His funeral services 
were attended in his mother's orchard, where his youthful 
feet had often pressed the soil to gather the falling fruit ; 
and his remains are resting in the silent grave scarce half 
a mile from the place of his birth. His grave is on an 
eminence but a few rods from where the funeral services 
were attended, and near the grave of his father. 

" The grave, no doubt, will be marked, so that passers 
by will often stop and drop a tear over the dear departed. 
And now, dear friend, a few lines from you would be 
gratefully received by the afflicted friends. I pray that 
the God of battles may be with you, and go forth with 
your arms till rebellion shall cease, the Union be restored, 
and the old flag wave over our entire land. 

u With much respect, I remain your friend, 

" Ltdia Slocttm, 
"Aged 87 years and 4 months." 



332 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



GENERAL GRANT'S REPLY. 

" Headquarters Armies of the U. S., j 
City Point, Ya., Aug. 10, 1864. ) 

" Mrs. Lydia Slocum : 

" My dear Madam : Your very welcome letter of 
the 3d instant has reached me. I am glad to know that 
the relatives of the lamented Major-General McPherson 
are aware of the more than friendship existing between 
him and myself. A nation grieves at the loss of one so 
dear to our nation's cause. It is a selfish grief, because 
the nation had more to expect from him than from almost 
any one living. I join in this selfish grief, and add the 
grief of personal love for the departed. He formed, for 
some time, one of my military family. I knew him well ; 
to know him was to love. It may be some consolation to 
you, his aged grandmother, to know that every officer and 
every soldier who served under your grandson felt the 
highest reverence for his patriotism, his zeal, his great, 
almost unequalled ability, his amiability, and all the manly 
virtues that can adorn a commander. Your bereavement 
is great, but cannot exceed mine. 

"Yours truly, U. S. Grant." 

TVe pause here, with the tidings most cheering from 
everv par t of the vast theatre of war. 

The exact posture of affairs is clearly and well ex- 
pressed in the subjoined letter to the Hon. Mr. Washburn, 
of Illinois : 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



333 



" Headquarters Armies oe the U. S., ) 
City Point, Ya., Aug. 16, 1864. ) 

" Dear Sir : I state to all citizens who visit me, that 
all we want now to insure an early restoration of the 
Union, is a determined unity of sentiment North. 

" The rebels have now in their ranks their last man. 
The little boys and old men are guarding prisoners, guard- 
ing railroad bridges, and forming a good part of their gar- 
risons or intrenched positions. A man lost by them can- 
not be replaced. They have robbed the cradle and the 
grave equally to get their present force. Besides what 
they lose in frequent skirmishes and battles, they are now 
losing from desertions and other causes at least one regi- 
ment per day. With this drain upon them, the end is not 
far distant, if we will only be true to ourselves. Their 
only hope now is in a divided North. This might give 
them reinforcements from Tennesese, Kentucky, Mary- 
land, and Missouri, while it would weaken us. "With the 
draft quietly enforced, the enemy would become de- 
spondent, and would make but little resistance. 

" I have no doubt but the enemy are exceedingly 
anxious to hold out until after the Presidential election. 
They have many hopes from its effects. They hope a 
counter revolution. They hope the election of the peace 
candidate. In fact, like Micawber, they hope for some- 
thing to 1 turn up.' Our peace friends, if they expect 
peace from separation, are much mistaken. It would be 
but the beginning of war, with thousands of Northern 



334 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



men joining the South because of our disgrace in allow- 
ing separation. To have 1 peace on any terms/ the South 
would demand the restoration of their . slaves already 
freed ; they would demand indemnity for losses sustained, 
and they would demand a treaty which would make the 
North slave hunters for the South ; they would demand 
pay for or the restoration of every slave escaped to the 
North. Yours truly, 

" U. S. Grant.' 7 

I am sure you will read with pleasure the evidence of 
the entire confidence existing between the President and 
General Grant, the additional letters will afford. T ne 7 
have quietly gone from the White House of the capital, 
and the headquarters of the Lieutenant-General, since the 
latter took the Virginia field : 

" Lieutenant-General Grant : 

" Not expecting to see you before the spring cam- 
paign opens, I wish to express, in this way, my entire 
satisfaction with what you have done up to this time, so 
far as I understand it. The particulars of your plans I 
neither know nor seek to know. You are vigilant and 
self-reliant ; and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude 
any restraints or constraints upon you. "While I am very 
anxious that any great disaster or capture of our men in 
great numbers shall be avoided, I know that these points 
are less likely to escape your attention than they would be 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



335 



mine. If there be anything wanting which is within my 
power to give, do not fail to let me know it. And now, 
with a brave army and a just cause, may God sustain you. 
" Yours, very truly, A. Lincoln." 

" The President : 

" Your very kind letter of yesterday is just received. 
The confidence you express for the future, and satisfaction 
for the past, in my military administration, is acknowl- 
edged with pride. It shall be my earnest endeavor that 
you and the country shall not be disappointed. From 
my first entrance into the volunteer service of the country 
to the present day, I have never had cause of complaiut, 
have never expressed or implied a complaint against the 
Administration, or the Secretary of War, for throwing 
any embarrassment in the way of my vigorously prose- 
cuting what appeared to be my duty. Indeed, since the 
promotion which placed me in command of all the armies, 
and in view of the great responsibility and importance of 
success, I have been astonished at the readiness with 
which everything asked for has been yielded, without 
even an explanation being asked. 

" Should my success be less than I desire and expect, 
the least I can say is, the fault is not with you. 
" Very truly, your obedient servant, 

" U. S. Grant, Lieut. •General." 

Over the immense territory of States which belonged 



336 



LIFE OF GENERAL GRANT. 



to the rebels, are scattered forts behind whose walls the 
enemy have fought us on their own soil. And it must 
not be forgotten, that the South had made, for years, 
preparation for separation, while we had made none. 

Notwithstanding our disadvantages, with treachery at 
the North and in the army, New Orleans, Forts Henry 
and Donelson, Corinth, Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Mobile, 
and Atlanta have fallen ; and, as this page is written, the 
glad tidings of Early's defeat by the gallant Sheridan is 
flying over the land. 

"With union and energy, the crest of the hydra Seces- 
sion will soon be trodden into the dust by the march of 
Freedom's host, to be lifted no more to the wrath of God 
and the scorn of the world. 

It is not partial, extravagant . praise, to say that Lieu- 
tenant-General Grant belongs with singular preeminence 
to the class of military chieftains of Revolutionary mem- 
ory, at whose head stands the immortal Washington, 



DEFINITION OF MILITARY WORDS. 



OFFICERS. 

Lieutenant-General. — The highest officer in the United States 
Army. He has command of the entire force. The President 
is, by his office, Commander-in-Chief ; but the Lieutenant- 
General is at the head of troops in actual service. 

Major-General. — The next in rank to the former. The commander 
of a division, or several regiments. 

Brigadier-General.— The commander of a brigade, which is an 
indefinite number of regiments. It is the grade below that of 
the Major- General. 

Colonel. — The commander of a regiment, which comprises, when 
full, about a thousand men. 

Lieutenant-Colonel. — Xext to the former, commanding the regi- 
ment in his absence. 

Major. — The officer next in command. 

Captain. — The officer over a company, the number of which is- 

usually one hundred men. 
Lieutenant. — The officer next to the captain, and who fills his place 

in his absence. 
Aide-de-Camp.— A general officer's assistant officer. 
22' 



338 DEFINITION OF MILITARY WORDS. 

Adjutant. — An officer who aids a superior officer in receiving and 
giving orders. He places guards, distributes ammunition, &c. 

Ensign. — The standard bearer ; the lowest commissioned officer in 
the infantry. Cornet is the same in cavalry. 

Sergeant. — A non-commissioned officer, whose duty it is to instruct 
the soldiers in the ranks, form the ranks, &c. 

Corporal. — The lowest officer in the infantry, having charge of a 
few men, relieving sentinels, &e. 

Admiral. — The highest officer in the navy. The commander of a 
fleet. Vice-Admiral commands the second squadron, and is 
nextjn rank. Hear- Admiral has command of the third squad- 
ron, or last division of the fleet. 

Commodore. — The commander of a squadron, or portion of a fleet, 
on some special service. A naval captain, who has two or three 
ships under his command, is sometimes honored with the title. 



OTHEK TERMS. 

Abatis. — Piles of trees, or branches sharpened, and laid with their 
points outward, in front of fortifications, to prevent the ap- 
proach of the enemy. 

Ambulance. — A carriage for the sick and wounded. 

Artillery. — The soldiers who manage the heavy guns. 

Battalion. — A body of troops less than a regiment. 

Battery. — Six cannon make a full battery. The term is applied to 
a smaller number. 

Bomb. — A large cast-iron shell, charged with powder, and thrown 
from a mortar, which ignites a fuse, exploding the bomb where 
it falls. 



DEFINITION OF MILITARY TVORDS. 339 



Bombardment. — An attack with bombs ; throwing them into a fort, 
town, or ship. 

Caisson. — An artillery carriage containing ammunition. 

Canister. — A tin cylinder filled with shot, made to explode when 

fired from the gun. 
Casemate. — A vault or covered chamber, of masonry, to protect 

from shot and shell. 
Cavalry. — Horsemen in the army. 

Columbiad. — A large cannon ; sometimes ten feet in length. 
Column. — A body of troops drawn up in deep riles with narrow 
front. 

Countersign. — -A word given by the highest officer to guards and 
sentinels, and all who have occasion to pass them ; so that no 
improper person may get by them. 

Enfilade. — To sweep the inside of a fortification, or line of troops, 
with shot. 

File. — A row of soldiers one behind the other. 

Flank. — The side of a body of men, or place. To outflank right or 
left, is to get round on that side. 

Fuse. — A tube filled with combustible material, or a cord of similar 
character, set on fire when the shell is fired ; its length in pro- 
portion to the distance the shell is designed to go. 

Grape. — The proper term is grapeshot : several small balls in a 
canvas bag, fitted to the bore of a gun, bursting, and scattering 
the balls upon the discharge. 

Gunboat. — A vessel fitted up with cannon. An ironclad, is one 
covered or plated with iron. 

Infantry. — Soldiers on foot. 

Mortar. — A short, wide-mouthed gun, used for throwing shells. 
Pickets. — The soldiers in front of the army, to watch and report 
movements of the enemy. 



340 DEFINITION OF MILITARY WORDS. 



Pontoon. — A boat bridge for crossing streams, which can be carried 
in wagons. 

Reveille. — The first drumbeat in the morning. 
Rifle Pits. — Excavations in the ground to protect the riflemen. 
Staff. — The group of officers which attend a general. 
Tattoo. — The drumbeat at night, giving notice of time for soldiers 
to retire, 



645 



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